Green Light Given For
Performing Arts Center Project
$4.71 Million Bond Will Be Diverted To Help Pay For $10 Million PAC’s Construction

The firm predicted that the center would cost $10 million to construct, require $524,000 a year to operate, and generate $324,000 in revenues.

By Randy Abraham

The Aventura City Commission agreed to go forward with a proposal to develop a 300-seat performing arts center at the site where they will also oversee the reconstruction of the public county library at 2930 Aventura Blvd.

The decision comes after commissioners discussed a feasibility study at a workshop meeting held in January, when the city’s consulting firm AMS Planning and Research presented its projection that the center could feasibly be built and operated by the city with a $200,000 annual subsidy. The firm predicted that the center would cost $10 million to construct, require $524,000 a year to operate, and generate $324,000 in revenues. The consulting firm also predicted that the city of Aventura would not need to raise property taxes or incur any long-term debt to fund the center’s operations.

During the Feb. 6 meeting the mayor and commissioners also directed City Manager Eric Soroka to request that the county re-allocate about $4.71 million from its 2004 general obligation bond to offset construction costs.

The city also hopes to receive about $1.5 million in state grants, $1 million from a sale of a city-owned piece of property, and about $1 million in impact fees and dedications from developers to offset the center’s development costs. The city might also solicit donations, dip into reserve funds, and sell ad space on a billboard at Ives Dairy Road and Biscayne Boulevard to raise additional monies for the center.

Mayor Susan Gottlieb, who proposed studying a plan to build a performing arts center in conjunction with the rebuilding of the county library branch in Aventura, said a number of factors converged to create a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to bring the center to the city:  The need to rebuild the library, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma in October 2005; and the cost of a seven-acre parcel owned by Gulfstream Park racetrack and needed by the city to expand the Waterways Park, came in under budget at about $2.1 million and freeing up more than $1 million of city funds.

Gottlieb praised elected officials and staff for working together to conceive the performing arts center proposal. She described a previous city attempt to construct a much larger performing arts center – which hinged on obtaining air rights above a private development – as unworkable and a “pie in the sky” plan that could have required raising property taxes.

“I’m very pleased,” Gottlieb said after the meeting. “We scaled back the project so that it would be financially feasible and we had a lot of input from architects and operators of other centers.”

Gottlieb added that real estate developers had offered to build a performing arts center in the city in exchange for being allowed to build an additional ten stories over and beyond what the city’s zoning allows — an offer, said Gottlieb, that city officials would not consider.

Aventura Marketing Council president Elaine Adler expressed support for the project, and said she expects local businesses will support the center. “This is the missing piece that would complete our city, and it would be a wonderful addition,” said Adler.

Aventura resident Gilbert Rosenberg also praised the proposal, and urged city leaders to consider building the center as a so-called “green building” that is energy-efficient. Gottlieb said that the green building concept was being considered for the project.

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