Land deal reached for Arts Center expansion

S.J. Cahn

COSTA MESA -- Strike up the orchestra. The land is ready.

A year after pledging six acres of land for the final expansion of the

Performing Arts Center, the Segerstrom family and the center’s board of

directors have worked out a formal agreement to transfer ownership of the

land to the board.

“Great is the only word I can use,” said Roger Kirwan, chairman of the

center’s board. “We’re there.”

Jerry Mandel, the center’s president, echoed Kirwan’s exuberance.

“This will enable us to complete our dream, and that is, frankly, to have

a center that is second to none in the country,” Mandel said of the

proposed Segerstrom Center for the Arts. “This will become really and

truly the Lincoln Center of the West. You’ll have here the most exquisite

theater.”

Now that the center has the land, all that’s needed is the money to pay

for the expansion, which will cost somewhere between $175 million and

$200 million.

The center will be designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, who

designed the Plaza Tower in Costa Mesa and the world’s tallest building,

the 88-story twin Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Russell Johnson will

provide the design for the acoustics.

Raising that money should become easier now that the center has ownership

of the land, Kirwan said.

“The major donors that we have been talking with wanted, rightly, to see

the land grant,” he said. That way they could be assured there are no

strings attached, he said.

“Everything that could be considered a string has been worked out

amicably,” Kirwan added.

The so-called “quiet” fund-raising from major donors typically provides

half of the total money raised.

The land ownership transfer is to take place by the end of the month.

The site is at the southwest corner of Town Center Drive and Avenue of

the Arts.

Kirwan said the gift of the land is just about priceless because it is so

close to the center.

Plans for the land include two halls -- one with about 2,000 seats, the

other with 500 -- which will allow smaller groups to perform at the

center. The South Coast Repertory Theater will be expanded and there will

also be a central plaza that can hold as many as 6,000 people.

The emphasis in the new halls will be on creating the best possible

acoustics, Mandel said.

He noted that the addition is meant to last 100 years.

“Great concert halls last that long,” he said. “You want to make sure you

put what you want in it.”

Groundbreaking could take place within a year.