Concert Hall to Rise Near Manassas

An architect's rendering of the outside of the $56 million performing arts center planned for George Mason University's Prince William campus. (Holzman Moss, Hughes Group Architects/george Mason University)

University and local officials believe that the arts center -- which would be home to such local groups as the Prince William Symphony Orchestra and also would host national and international performers -- will transform and give a new sense of legitimacy to Prince William's arts scene.

"It will reveal to the region the quality of art and artists that, frankly, is indigenous and has been in place for a long time," said Bill Reeder, dean of George Mason's College of Visual and Performing Arts and a former opera singer.

The center is the latest of nearly a dozen such centers to be planned or built in the region, from Bowie to Loudoun County. Its main performance hall will be vertical, with a U-shaped audience seating area and dozens of box seats, leaving almost every patron with a front-rowlike view, officials said.

Hannah Senft, 61, a retired Manassas city government worker and president of the Georgetown South Board of Trustees, welcomed the idea of such an arts center.

"I think it will bring more people into the area and support the businesses," she said. "It will be a nice thing for the people here, so they don't have to go so far for those types of events."

For such local groups as the Manassas Dance Company, the center -- with an additional smaller theater and a rehearsal and performance studio -- will mark an end to performing in high school auditoriums.

"People say, 'Oh really, do you take 3-year-olds?' " said Amy Grant Wolfe, the group's artistic director. She then explains that, no, her group is made up of professional male and female dancers from all over the world.

"We really can be a destination for those who want to hear music, see dance, go to Shakespeare," Wolfe said. "I think this more and more is becoming our identity. We're not just strip malls and Chili's and [T.G.I.] Friday's."

She said that beyond providing a permanent home for her dancers, the center could be the catalyst needed to expand the company into a nationally recognized operation.

GMU plans to open the center by fall 2009, depending on funding, said Brian H. Marcus, associate dean for development at the university's College of Visual and Performing Arts. Construction could begin as soon as summer 2007.

GMU and local officials approved a plan to share the center's $36 million design and construction costs. The county will pay 60 percent, George Mason will pay 30 percent and the city of Manassas will pay 10 percent.

An additional $15 million will be raised privately for an endowment. Other costs include $3 million worth of land being donated by GMU, $1 million for construction and fundraising management and an additional $1 million operating fund, officials said.

Staff writer Michael D. Shear contributed to this report.