Columbus is moving on to the design and planning phase for the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater, which will be located on The Island, across from the pedestrian bridge near The Riverwalk.
Kevin Stafford, vice president of Neel-Schaffer and the city engineer, told the city council Tuesday the amphitheater will cost about $3 million. It will take up approximately three acres on The Island and include a grassy seating area for about 2,000 people and permanent seats for another 1,500.
The amphitheater is part of an overall plan to improve and expand The Riverwalk along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
The city council on Tuesday unanimously approved a design contract for the project.
The contract allocates 4.67 percent of the project cost to architectural services and 2.19 percent to structural planning. It also allocates $14,500 to environmental services, $15,500 to no-rise analysis, $2,900 for surveying and $5,300 for geotechnical services. Councilmen previously approved paying 6 percent of the project cost for civil engineering.
Stafford said the project’s roots go back to late last year, when the city began to consider extending the Riverwalk roughly 14 miles to the Columbus Air Force Base. The amphitheater was included in those plans.
Earlier this year, the state Legislature approved $2.25 million for the city to use for the trail extension and amphitheater. Since then, the city has designated $150,000 for a master plan for the trail extension and amphitheater, $75,000 to the U.S. Corps of Engineers to review the master plan and $300,000 for design, construction administration and project management fees.
Ground could break in spring
The amphitheater’s first phase will cost about $1.7 million, if the current budget holds.
The first phase, Stafford said, will include the entrance, ADA access, ticket booths, a 40-foot-by-60-foot stage and grassy areas. Some other details are still in the air.
For example, Stafford said the first phase will likely include concessions and restrooms, but not a stage roof. That could change, if planners decide to prioritize the stage over permanent restrooms or if another portion of the project comes in under budget and leaves funding for additional work.
“Everything’s still on the table right now,” he said.
Permanent seating will likely be added in a future update, and Stafford said planners will seek additional funding from the legislature during the next session.
Stafford told councilmen Tuesday he hopes to have the project ready to advertise for construction bids before the end of December. On Wednesday, he told The Dispatch that schedule, if it holds, would likely see the project break ground in the spring, with the first phase likely finishing in September.
“My hope is that probably at the last council meeting in December, we can have (the council’s) blessing to go advertise,” Stafford said. “We’ll start advertising over Christmas and New Year’s and then sometime in late January we’ll open bids. Some time in February we’ll pick a contractor and as soon as spring hits and the weather breaks we can break ground.”
Though a final design has yet to be approved, some councilmen were already turning an eye to the future and potential capacity increases. Ward 2 councilman Joseph Mickens asked if the plans have allowed room for increases.
“Just say this thing takes off,” he said. “Did we allow to increase from the 3,500 we have now, to increase later on if we need to go up?”
Stafford said the seating area, which accounts for about two thirds of the seating space, could be converted to seats, which could “easily” push capacity to about 7,000-8,000 seats. He also said stadium-style seating in the plaza area, where people could still come in under the seats, could capacity to more than 10,000 seats.
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