News & Features
Chesterfield Center for the Arts Seeks Bids for Architecture Services
By Mark Fausz
Jul 23, 2008 - 1:04:19 PM

And they said it would never happen. The faint vision of an art center in Chester born over 10 years ago has been becoming more solid with each passing year, and now what seemed to be an apparition is not longer just a figment of imagination, but a reality. On Friday, Chesterfield County issued a request for proposal (RFP) for engineering and architectural orientation and schematic design for the Chesterfield Center for the Arts.

The center, which is planned for the space just north of the Chester Library, is to be designed in accordance with a plan program coordinated between the county’s library department and the Chesterfield Center for the Arts Foundation (CCAF). In April the county appropriated $400,000 in funding, culled from the hotel transient occupancy tax slated for tourism or economic development, to jump start the planning of the arts center.

“We’re so excited that we are getting to the point of seeing the dream of this community come to fruition,” says Betty Matthews, chairman of the CCAF.

The RFP asks that the engineer/architect generate a schematic design, a phase design cost estimate and then present those designs to the county administration, Board of Supervisors, CCAF members and the general public. The county asks any bidder to meeting with the county and the CCAF to collect information on design studies to date.

A second phase of the design development would require the design of all site improvements and generate all design documents.

Members of the CCAF met on Monday for their annual meeting. Members filled the Chester Library meeting room to hear about the latest developments.

Rebecca T. Dixon, director of human services for the county, who oversees library operations, spoke about the future of the Chesterfield Center for the Arts project and gave credit to the CCAF for the hard work that they have done.

Bids for the engineering/architecture work are due on August 14, and Matthews says she can hardly wait to see how it comes out.

A conceptual design, paid for by the foundation, which both the county and the foundation support, would consist of about 22,000 square feet and include a 400- to 500-person auditorium and a smaller “black box” performance venue, as well as gallery and studio space and dressing rooms.

On Saturday the CCAF presented its second concert in a summer series featuring the Virginians. The Virginians performed two shows on the grounds in front of the Chester Library, the future site of the performing art center.

mfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421


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