Newly refurbished building shaping up to be a grand venue

From the entry way, the lobby, the seating, the stage and to every detail - South Florida Community College's new auditorium is shaping up to offer a grand performance all its own.

The $12.5 million renovation aims to improve the audiences' experience, while also offering a larger and updated backstage to accommodate bigger and technically complex productions.

Standing on the stage looking out into where the audience will be seated, the back wall (behind the audience) seems much closer, and in fact it is. The rear seats on the ground-level will be 25 feet closer to the stage than before.

The old auditorium had about 1,400 seats, all on the ground floor, but the new auditorium will have about 1,000 ground-level seats, 300 balcony seats and 200 seats in 20 side boxes. The total capacity will be about 1,500.

"If you were to build an auditorium today, you would build it to different code and life-safety issues than were in place in 1979 when it was originally built," SFCC President Norm Stephens Jr. said recently during a tour.

That means the new design includes the latest fire sprinkler requirements, handicap accessibility, configuration for seating, etc., he said.

Many design features will enhance the acoustics of the auditorium, Stephens noted, from the shape of the ceiling to the materials on the walls.

SFCC Vice President of Administrative Services Glenn Little said the seats have better spacing between them.

"And I think we are going to have a much more comfortable intimate feel all the way around," he said.

Expanded lobbies are one thing visitors will see new about the auditorium.

The old auditorium had one lobby. The new one will have three - the main lobby where you enter the building, an upper lobby for the balcony seating and a lower lobby, which leads to the regular seating.

The expanded lobbies will also provide display space for art work and photos from past and upcoming productions.

Stairs, ramps and two elevators will provide access to the upper and lower lobbies. The elevators feature a unique design, which renders them virtually silent.

The existing restrooms have been renovated and new restrooms will service the patrons in the balcony and box seating.

To accommodate bigger productions, the backstage fly space for backdrops has been raised from 39 to 65 feet.

The stage opening (proscenium) has also been raised from 18 to 24 feet high.

The old canopy that covered the driveway in front of the auditorium has been removed.

The new canopy, which is called a porte-cochere, currently under construction will have a 28-foot span from column to column, said Mathews Construction Superintendent Frank Hughes. This will accommodate three cars side-by-side, where previously only two cars could barely get through.

Along with all the structural changes, there is another major change for the auditorium, a new name - "The SFCC Theatre for the Performing Arts."

The project is on schedule and on budget.

The construction team is scheduled to have the project substantially complete and turn over the building to the college on Feb. 16.

SFCC will provide a public open house of the auditorium 1 - 4 p.m., Feb. 28.

The first show scheduled in the new venue is an Artist Series event - "Neil Berg's 101 Years of Broadway: A Sequel" - at 7:30 p.m., March 1.

The next day, March 2, the venue will host its first Matinee Series event - "Tamburitzans" - at 1:30 p.m.

SEE IT FOR YOURSELF

SFCC will provide a public open house of the auditorium 1 - 4 p.m., Feb. 28.