The $125-million, 3,000-seat Cobb County Performing Arts Center has set a tentative June construction start while the $90-million, 12,000-seat North Fulton Centre for the Arts could begin construction by year end. Both projects are shooting for 2006 opening dates.

John Williams, founder and former chairman of Post Properties Inc., heads the Cumberland Galleria Arts Alliance, which is supporting the Cobb County venture. Funding for the project is already secured, brokers who have worked with some of the Alliance principals tell GlobeSt.com.

For example, the Cobb County commission is contributing $57 million in hotel-motel tax revenue over 20 years for the center, which will be built adjacent to the Cobb Galleria Centre at Interstate 75 and Akers Mill Road. The arts center will be located on the same tract that housed Cirque du Soleil, the French-Canadian circus that broke attendance records in 2003. The attraction plans to reopen in March.

Cobb County arts-center officials plan to boost their revenue drawer by selling naming rights to the facility that could go for as high as $20 million, brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

On the North Fulton Centre for the Arts, project backers are paying $4.2 million or $147,368 per acre ($3.38 per sf) for a 28.5-acre tract across GA 400 from the North Point Mall. The estimated cost of the first phase is $15 million. Private gifts of $2.2 million plus $1 million each from the City of Alpharetta, GA and Fulton County are funding the land purchase.

Instant Insights /

$215M Arts Developments Plan Ground-Breakings

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