The City Council this week conducted what could be described as a dress rehearsal, authorizing the mayor to borrow $2 million to help remake the old city library at 425 W. Center St. into a 720-seat performance center.
"This is a project that is going to happen," Mayor Lewis Billings said.
When combined with private donations, the $2 million would give Provo roughly $5 million toward the center aimed at providing a venue for the Utah Regional Ballet, the Utah Valley Symphony and other groups and troupes that now perform at the LDS Church-owned Provo Tabernacle or in high school auditoriums.
Provo plans to repay the $2 million loan with tax increments over 15 years from three existing redevelopment agency projects. State law allows cities to extend RDA projects to prevent the money from reverting to taxing entities, provided the cash is used for a public facility.
"If we don't take advantage of the tax increment, we're going to lose it," Councilman Dave Knecht said Wednesday.
Provo RDA Director Paul Glauser says the arts center and the $16.6 million Wells Fargo Center - a seven-story high-rise and parking garage under construction on 100 N. University Ave. - will serve as bookends to breathe new life into that stretch of downtown.
Janet Hall, a member of the Provo Arts Council, said performers in Utah Valley finally will get a place to stay and play, as Brigham Young University and Provo Tabernacle are increasingly unavailable to community groups.
"The only show we are allowed through BYU anymore is the 'Nutcracker,' which is done by Utah Regional Ballet," she said. "What really broke my heart is that the group used to perform 'The Legend of Timpanogos,' which is the story of our own mountain here in Utah County. But that ballet was performed in Salt Lake this year because they couldn't get a place here in Utah County."
But Provo's center will come with a caveat: Anything off-color will be off-limits.
"It must be something families can come to and not worry or be embarrassed," Hall said.
City leaders hope to break ground within several months.
meddington@sltrib.com
