The wait is almost over.
Construction on the Festus R-6 Performing Arts Center is nearly complete, and the facility is expected to be open by mid-February, several months later than originally expected.
“It’s 99-percent done,” Superintendent Link Luttrell said Jan. 21.
Also that day Luttrell said the city of Festus issued the school district an occupancy permit for the 28,500-square-foot center, which includes a 750-seat auditorium.
The center, which is being built next to the Festus High School band room that opened in 2019, will cost $14 million – $12.5 million for construction and the rest for architectural and engineering work and other items. The district is paying for the center with revenue from Proposition F, a 59-cent tax increase district voters approved in April 2019.
Brockmiller Construction in Farmington, the contractor for the project, is working on final touches, and the company still needs to train Festus R-6 employees to operate some of the center’s features, such as the sound and lighting systems.
Luttrell said he hopes the center is open in time for plays to be held there in February and March.
“The plan right now is to have the Festus Middle School musical (‘Aladdin Jr.’) performed here Feb. 17-20,” he said. “I think the high school’s first production will be ‘Annie,’ in March.”
Brockmiller originally was supposed to have the building completed by October 2021, but supply-chain problems delayed the project, the company’s president, Bill Giessing told the Festus Board of Education at its Jan. 20 meeting.
He said while “delivery” problems have slowed the project, work has continued moving forward.
“I think all the pieces are coming together,” Giessing said.
Luttrell, who complained about the project delays at the board meeting, nevertheless said he is thrilled with the center.
“It’s turned out awesome,” he said. “It’s something our entire district and community can be proud of, and it will be used for years.”
The entire building is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible, he said.
Luttrell said he especially likes the auditorium design.
“Even with 750 seats, it’s very intimate,” he said. “The stage is huge. There is LED lighting around the stage.”
The stage is one of the last parts of the center that needs to be completed, Luttrell said.
“One of the last things they have to do – which they waited to do – is paint the stage floor black and seal it,” he said.
Instead of an orchestra pit below the stage, there is space next to it designated for musicians to play during shows.
A room behind the stage contains a machine shop and will be used for set construction, Luttrell said.
“There is storage room for costumes,” he added. “They can work on the costumes there.”
The entrance to the Performing Arts Center is off the high school’s back parking lot. Upon entering, visitors will pass through a large lobby featuring a chandelier.
Other features include a community room, multiple mounted monitors, restrooms designated for the public and other restrooms back stage for the performers and an elevator.
Brian Stam, the Brockmiller site superintendent, believes the community will be impressed with the building.
“It’s as state-of-the-art as anything I’ve built,” Stam said. “I think there are some colleges around that would be jealous. It’s a nice building.”
The Performing Arts Center also will be available to groups outside the school district.
“It will be available to community groups for fees when we’re not using it,” Luttrell said. “The fee schedule is not set up yet.”
He thanked the community for approving Proposition F to fund the construction of the Performing Arts Center and other improvements to the district.
“What we’re seeing is the fruit of the efforts to make this (Performing Arts Center) on behalf of the school and community,” Luttrell said. “It’s turned out better than I could have imagined.”
Other projects funded through Proposition F include reconfiguring the student drop-off and pick-up areas at the elementary and intermediate schools to address traffic congestion on Mid-Meadow Lane, and upgrading and replacing technology and infrastructure on an annual basis.
In addition, an approximately 42,000-square-foot community activities center will be funded with revenue from the tax increase. That center will be built behind and below the high school and is in the design phase, Luttrell said.