Bond plan backed for LR Hall

The Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission said last week it would support a bond issue to renovate the city’s aging Robinson Center Music Hall.

A bond election could be held as early as fall. The project to upgrade the facility build in 1939 is expected to cost $50 million to $65 million.

The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, which operates and maintains the music hall, voted in October 2012 to seek bond financing for the renovation effort.

The renovation would include a retrofit to make the structure more resistant to earthquakes, improve its acoustics, and remodeling to provide a more modern look. The latest major project at the music hall was an addition completed almost 40 years ago.

The city wants to improve the intimacy of the hall by reducing the capacity from 2,600 seats to between 1,800 and 2,300.  The stage may also be reduced, and the size of the exhibit hall will be cut by 50% or more.

If the financing plan is approved by voters, renovation work could begin in early 2014 with completion in late 2016.

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Arkansas
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