In Wednesday’s (5/11) San Antonio Express-News (Texas), Jennifer Hiller reports, “The stately Municipal Auditorium building is about two weeks away from the first baby steps of construction work to turn it into the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. The city will move out of the historic building May 23, and a nonprofit foundation overseeing the project will take over—starting by removing and recycling much of the interior to make way for work that will turn the historic-but-echo-filled auditorium into an acoustically appropriate home for the opera, ballet, symphony and other performance groups. Thousands of theater seats and equipment such as stage lights will be dismantled and delivered to community groups such as the Magik Theatre and the Scottish Rite Auditorium, said J. Bruce Bugg Jr., president and chairman of the Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation. … The Tobin Center should open in spring 2014—about six months later than initially planned due to the board’s decision to fundraise for and install an $11 million movable seating system that will allow a flat floor for special events or the traditional, sloping theater configuration. … Mayor Julián Castro said the project is a key amenity to improve downtown and attract people and businesses to San Antonio.”
Posted May 11, 2011
