Arts commission to break ground on park later this year

The Arts of Collin County Commission plans to break ground on Phase 1 of the arts park and hall by the autumn of this year.

In a public meeting held at Frisco City Hall on Wednesday designed to give an overview of the multiyear project, Commission Director Steve Matthews said the construction documents for Phase 1 are 50 percent complete. Also, the cities of Melissa and Fairview have joined Allen, Frisco, and Plano in the project.

The whole project is designed to fit in with the Texas landscape. The outdoors will blend with the indoors.

"The meadow will come into the lobby," Mary Margaret Jones, a landscape architect with Hargreaves Associates, said. "The lobby will be like a large Texas front porch."

The exterior and interior design of the project will include Texas woods and stones as well as Texas plants that can stand the region's heat.

Allen, Frisco, and Plano each approved a $19 million bond program to fund the arts park. Collin County has awarded a $3 million grant through its Open Space Enhancement Program. Funds are also being raised from the private sector.

It will be built on a 124-acre site located in Allen near State Highway 121 and Custer Road. The land, valued at $22 million, has been donated by Briar Ridge Investments.

Phase 1 will include a 2,100-seat main hall, a performance meadow, hike and bike trails, and a sculpture garden. Phase 1 should be completed in 2010.

The main performance hall will be able to accommodate symphony orchestras and Broadway shows.

BOORA Architects are a main component of the design team, along with Hargreaves Associates.

"This is going to be incredibly successful," Arts of Collin County Commission Executive Director James Baudoin said. "It's putting this complex where the population is, in the middle of where we live. Accessibility will do wonders for people taking in the arts."

For information on the project, visit www.artsofcollincounty.org.

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