PARD memo eyes expected 2026 bond package to complete new Dougherty Arts Center

The Parks and Recreation Department is looking toward an expected 2026 bond package to obtain the funding needed to complete the new Dougherty Arts Center, which is slated to be built in two phases in the coming years at a total cost of $50 million to $60 million.

A memo published last month by interim PARD Director Angela Means updated City Council on construction plans for the Dougherty, as well as at other cultural centers.

Means wrote PARD is working with Capital Delivery Services to redefine the scope of the first phase of the Dougherty, which would possibly be redesigned and built using an existing roughly $20 million remaining from the city’s 2018 bond package. The first phase would complete the basic “shell” of the intended complete DAC, but it would not be suitable for programming or activities of any kind.

The estimated $30 million stakeholders are looking to request in the bond package would pay for interior walls, finishes, hardware and other features needed for theater programming, arts courses and other activities currently offered at the 80-year-old building that is in disrepair.

In the memo Means wrote, in part: “(T)he current facility has reached the end of its useful life and requires constant costly maintenance and repairs. Each month, the facility faces new challenges that require temporary building closures to address these repairs. A permanent closure of the facility and programs may be required until a new DAC is built.”

PARD had expected to move forward with a new DAC on South Lamar Boulevard using the existing bond money, but a prior Council voted to include an underground parking garage to the project. That change added roughly $10 million to the cost, causing a pause, during which increases and construction costs and ongoing maintenance needs at the original DAC have continued to drain the available capital for the new building.

Last month, the Arts Commission voted in support of the city providing the $30 million needed to complete the new DAC.

The city’s recently formed Bond Election Advisory Task Force held its first meeting last month, during which it was discussed that cultural uses generally account for 7 percent of the total funds requested in previous comprehensive bond proposals put before voters.

Laura Esparza, a member of the Friends of the DAC nonprofit, said the group submitted a request from a local arts funding group to cover expenses such as outdoor furniture and other features not included in the basic construction. That request was denied in part because of the funder’s lack of faith in the city carrying through with the construction after the delay caused by the parking garage decision.

“That’s the sort of thing that undermines the trust of private funders. You really do shoot yourself in the foot when you don’t follow through on what the voters, you know, have mandated,” she said, noting that the new DAC is expected to double the amount of programming over what’s available at the current site. “The amount of community cultural activity that could be produced right away by this building, I think would bring a lot of people back into the DAC who were willing to trust the building.”

Esparza said the long-held support for the DAC would likely help to earn approval from voters in the city’s next request for a major investment in cultural facilities.

“A lot of people feel invested in the DAC, and it is easily passed on every bond that it was up for. It’s really a very dear part of old Austin. We just want it to be a part of whatever new Austin is about and continue in a new spot,” she said.

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Posted In: Austin, District 9