Judge approves plan to dissolve The Arts Center of North Texas
The end has finally come for The Arts Center of North Texas, a joint effort of the cities of Allen, Frisco and Plano to build a regional performing arts hall.
On Wednesday, District Court Judge Angela Tucker approved the nonprofit board’s proposal to divvy up the $2.3 million in remaining donations among the three cities and return the 124 acres of donated land in Allen back to the original donor.
The nonprofit sought the court’s approval to release any restrictions on its remaining donations since it couldn’t deliver on building the performing arts hall as planned. The law requires that the money be used for similar purposes, so the cities must distribute the money to organizations and projects related to arts and culture. The money will be divided evenly among the three cities.
The arts board also sought the court’s permission to return the land along State Highway 121 to its donor. When the land was originally donated, arts hall officials and the landowner, Janice Brittingham, had agreed to include a provision requiring the land be returned if the arts hall weren’t built. But that provision was mistakenly left out of the legal documents.
Planning for the 2,100-seat arts hall began more than a decade ago. Voters in each city approved spending more than $19 million in bonds. Voters in McKinney opted not to join in the project. The remaining costs were to be covered by private donations. But fundraising slowed with the recession, and no major donors stepped up.
But with the recession came lower construction prices. Project officials decided to put the project out for bid. With a $5 million loan guarantee from the city of Allen, they announced in early 2010 that ground-breaking could come as early as that spring. But city of Frisco officials said they weren’t ready to fund their share. Opposition to the project grew. In May 2011, Frisco voters revoked the city’s authority to spend its remaining $16.4 million on the project.
Project officials weren’t able to recover from the blow. The organization changed its name in June 2011 from the Arts of Collin County to The Arts Center of North Texas to emphasize its regional nature. But it didn’t help. Plano and Allen soon withdrew their funding as well.
Efforts to separate from the cities and become a private nonprofit and continue fundraising were rejected. All that was left to do was work through the legal issues of dissolving, which has been ongoing.
The final judgment also spells out how each city plans to distribute its share of funds.
Allen will give $250,000 to The Allen Arts Alliance Association Inc. and split its remaining money, pro rata, among Allen Civic Ballet, Allen Philharmonic Symphony Inc., Allen’s Community Theater, The Allen Heritage Guild Inc., Allen Public Art Committee, The Allen Arts Alliance Association Inc., and Allen Friends of the Library (specifically restricted to be used for arts education at the library).
Frisco will give $250,000 to the Frisco Association for the Arts and the remaining money to the Frisco Community Development Corporation for infrastructure and capital improvements at the Frisco Discovery Center, which is managed by the Frisco Association for the Arts.
Plano will give $250,000 to The ArtCentre of Plano, Inc. and the remaining money will be used by the city for renovations and related capital costs for the Saigling House Project in coordination with The ArtCentre of Plano Inc. DMN’s Wendy Hundley has more details here.