(This is a slightly edited version of a commentary published in Reston Patch this week. The edits include the addition of a couple of examples of cost per square foot for performing arts centers as shown in blue ink below.)
In recent weeks, the
Reston Community Center (RCC), has called on Restonians to finance the building
and operation of a Reston visual and performing arts center (RVPAC) on land
proffered by Boston Properties. It
has set up “public meetings” in mid-February and beyond to achieve that end.
The RCC effort is not being driven by any need for such a
center nor in consideration of the many others legitimate needs of this
community. RCC has its own small
performance venue, the high school has a larger auditorium, and outdoor
performances are routine at the Town Center.
Within in 10 miles of Reston, major performance and visual venues exist
Wolf Trap and its Barns and the new Capital One Center at Tysons. A
website of Washington area visual and performing arts centers shows that
Hunter Mill District already has 19% of all the performance venues in Fairfax
County, the most of any county magisterial district. Neighboring Dranesville and Sully districts
add another 19% share to county venues.
For a real night out adventure, Washington, DC, has myriad performance
and arts centers. The point is the
visual and performing arts are readily available to Restonians now.
A
2019 “scientific” survey conducted by the University of Virginia on RCC’s
behalf on Restonians’ view of such a RVPAC showed that only 38% of the
respondents were supportive or very supportive of an RVPAC financed only by
Restonians, not close to a majority of the sample. Moreover, that is 38% of the self-selecting 1,906
respondents out of 5,500 queried in the survey. In short, three percent of Reston’s 63,226 population
were allowed to speak for our community in a survey designed to generate
positive responses. That is hardly sufficient
justification for pursuing a multi-million dollar initiative through added
taxes on Restonians.
Nonetheless, RCC is proceeding with its public meetings to
determine what Restonians want in their RVPAC—not whether they
want one nor how much they are willing to pay. Trying
to achieve dreams without first considering financial limitations is a recipe
for fiscal disaster. In fact, if
Restonians are to pay for the construction and operation of a VPAC, RCC needs
to first determine how much Restonians can and will pay for that “want.”
What is on the table is building a 60,000 square foot visual
and performing arts center on land proffered by Boston Properties in Reston
Town Center per
Reston Connection. An extensive Google
search of performance arts center design and build costs shows an extreme range
of costs per square foot, current costs ranging from about $300/sf to $2,000/sf
in one case. The range is largely attributable to the
elegance of the venue and the extent of its ancillary facilities. In fact, at this point, expecting design,
build, and equip current costs of $1,000/sf is a reasonable preliminary
estimate for planning a well-fitted, but not ostentatious, VPAC. That means a Reston VPAC would cost an
estimated $60 million to build—and, of course, more to operate.
A couple of examples:
·
Tysons’ new Capital One Center cost about
$960/sf ($120 million total) for its two venues—a 1,600 person principal theater
and a 225-person “box theater”--in a 125,000 sf facility. It also has an amphitheater on its campus.
·
A newly built
PAC on a college campus in Chula Vista, CA cost $66 million to design, build,
and equip. It includes a 540-seat
performance theater and a 151-seat “box theater” plus other small instructional
and support spaces. The building has 48,576
square feet gross floor area, meaning it cost $1,076/gsf. It was funded by two general obligation bonds
through two regional referendums, not by the college nor Chula Vista alone.
A reasonable planning assumption, one used by the
county, for an RVPAC would be to assume the interest rate of three percent on a
AAA general obligation bond. At a
3%/year interest, Restonians would have to pay an additional $3.1 million annually
to the Reston special tax district ($91.8 million over 30 years), increasing
current RCC annual tax revenue needs by one-third.
Is paying $91.8 million over 30 years for a visual and performance
venue the best use of Restonians’ STD#5 community or even county property tax
funds? I certainly don’t believe so. I suspect that is also the reason that
Supervisor Alcorn hasn’t taken this idea on as a county initiative. In fact, at least three other important areas
in Reston need that money: d
·
New Reston schools to accommodate the
20,000 new students planned to live in Reston in the next 30 years according to
the Reston Master Plan and FCPS student yield models.
· New parks in and immediately around the
increasingly intensely developed Reston transit station areas to give some
legitimacy to the county’s urban park guidelines. There are virtually no parks for the 90,000
people planned to live there, just wall-to-wall concrete. Boston Properties’ proffer specifically
identifies a park as an option to a VPAC.
· A new Reston Regional Library to replace the dilapidated, outdated and inadequate one at Town Center North.
I encourage all Reston residents
to attend and participate in RCC’s upcoming public meeting at 6:30PM on
February 14th at RCC. Let
them know what you think should be Reston taxpayers’ investment priorities. After all, RCC is trying to decide how to
spend some $92 million of your money, not theirs.
