Officials break ground on new arts ctr.

The $245 million performing arts center is expected to further revitalize the Center City area. The ballerinas wore hard hats and cartoon characters passed out the programs, but the audience didn't seem to mind as officials broke ground for Philadelphia's new Regional Performing Arts Center to the sound of a brass quintet, a marching band and some old time rock 'n' roll. The center -- slated for completion in the fall of 2001 and carrying an estimated price tag of $245 million -- is designed to answer a long-standing need for Philadelphia, which has the least performing arts space of any major American city. And the center, whose striking design has received international acclaim, is seen as the latest jewel in the heart of the revitalized Center City area. When completed, the center's two new venues will be operated in conjunction with the neighboring Academy of Music, creating a total of three performing arts spaces and 6,000 seats for seven "resident companies." Yesterday, only the cleared plot of land was visible as several hundred well-dressed patrons of the arts crowded into a tent at the corner of Broad and Spruce streets to celebrate the groundbreaking. The list of shovel-wielders was headed by Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell -- a key player in securing city and state funding for the project. Speaking after a prolonged standing ovation, Rendell called the center "an act of faith in our city." He added that the project "will stamp this city indelibly as [being] as good as any other city in the country." A 2,500-seat concert hall -- the larger of the two new halls -- will become the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. That will free up the Academy of Music for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Ballet and a slate of touring Broadway shows. The Recital Theater -- the smaller of the two new spaces, seating 650 around a unique revolving stage -- will house a variety of smaller groups, including American Theater Arts for Youth, Concert Soloists, Philadanco and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Yesterday's groundbreaking came as fundraising efforts reached the $200 million level. The state government, through its urban redevelopment fund, is the project's single largest donor. Willard Rouse, the center's chairperson, expressed confidence yesterday that the remaining $45 million will be raised. "I don't think it's a leap of faith at all," Rouse said. "I would've started [building] at $100 million." Rouse also has other goals in his sights -- he would like to seed the center with a $20-30 million endowment. And the fundraising has had its setbacks. The most public slap in the face came from the Pew Charitable Trusts, a venerable Philadelphia institution whose funding decisions are often followed by other philanthropists. The organization, one of the country's largest charitable foundations, declined to fund the project, citing concerns about the cost of the center and about its ability to break even without charging its resident groups high usership fees. Pew's reservations notwithstanding, the center's design -- by New York-based Rafael Vinoly, designer of the acclaimed Tokyo International Forum -- was unveiled last April, with $168 million in the bank. As seen in artists' renderings of the center, a vaulted roof of ribbed glass extends for the entire length of the structure, presenting a semicircular face to the Avenue of the Arts above the block-wide flight of steps leading to the entrance. The exterior base rises several stories above the street, using blocks of off-yellow masonry in varying geometric forms and patterns before yielding to the glass vaulting. But it is the interior -- envisioned as a "public space" with two free standing performing-arts venues under the vaulted roof -- that has occasioned the greatest comment and praise. The larger of the two spaces is the cello-shaped Concert Hall. Its eight faces, of the same material as the outer walls of the shell, are visually punctuated by three circumferential walkways indented into the exterior. Glass and steel walkways shoot out from the walls, connecting the hall to the promenades along the center's inner walls at a range of angles and levels. The smaller Recital Theatre -- crowned by a rooftop garden -- stands at the front of the complex, massed against the left wall to allow pedestrian traffic to flow toward the Concert Hall beyond. Relatively streamlined and smaller than its sister structure, the off-white walls and crown of leaves render the structure unobtrusive. Nonetheless, the theatre will likely become the most-used performing arts space in the city upon completion. Designed as a flexible space, a revolving stage and removable seating are among the innovations that allow the theater to serve multiple purposes. After yesterday's event, Rouse said he remained "hopeful" that Pew would come on board. "There has been a lot of misunderstanding and questions we're still answering," Rouse said. Pew officials could not be immediately reached for comment. As for Pew's concerns about operating costs, Rouse said that he believes the center will "break even or something close to that."