Woodbury Arts Center: Take II

Higher than expected construction bids have altered plans for a new arts center at .

The Merrill Community Arts Center will now occupy two sites in Woodbury—the original plans called for one structure connected to East Ridge.

Bids for the work came in about $500,000 above the $2.5 million budget for the facility, said Michelle Witte, vice president of , the organization that will manage the center.

Under the new plans, many of the arts center's functions will be housed at 380 Rivertown Drive, in addition to the black box theater attached to the high school.

The Rivertown Drive spot cost $420,000 and provides a location for the “back end” work for the arts center, including set design, costume and prop storage, rehearsal space, and an area for visual arts.

That spot is already operational, Witte said, with construction on the East Ridge site slated to begin in spring 2012.

“In my mind, it’s still the Merrill Community Arts Center—we just have two campuses,” Witte said.

While Witte said “nobody was more disappointed than me” when the bids came in, she noted that the new plans allow the project to move forward after five years of planning.

Stakeholders investigated other funding mechanisms to continue with the original plans, Witte said. “Nobody has $500,000 to pony up.”

“We need to get moving,” she said, “and we are.”

The 8,000-square-foot Rivertown Drive location has its advantages, Witte said. The site provides more space for visual arts than the earlier plans, and it also allows for exhibits to offer “wine and cheese receptions,” which would have been disallowed at the high school, she said.

There are still some minor items to be worked out with the school district, Witte said, though nothing that would further stall the plans.

“Everybody’s on board,” she said.

Despite the fact that the original plans have changed, Witte said the new arts center will be a community asset.

“It’s been a long journey and you need to deal with the realities that come up,” Witte said. “You’ve got to move on and make the best of what you have.”

In 2005, former brought together leaders from the Arts Connection and District 833 to discuss the development of a community arts center as part of plans to construct a new high school in Woodbury.

The partnership was formed and in 2006; Arts Connection’s members provided support for the school’s bond referendum, and served on both the Architect Selection Committee and the Design Committee.  

The Loft Stage at East Ridge opened in 2009 as a high school and community performance facility. Arts Connection proceeded with its fundraising efforts for the center, and secured from 40-year Woodbury resident Dorothy K. Merrill.

A design and long term use agreement for the Merrill Community Arts Center was approved by the school board and city of Woodbury in 2011.