HUNTINGTON BEACH : Arts Center, Plaza Drawings Unveiled

Drawings showing the city’s plans for a new arts center were unveiled Tuesday night during a study session by the City Council.

The center is scheduled to open in the spring of 1991.

The plans call for renovation of a 11,000-square-foot building at 538 Main St. formerly owned by Southern California Edison Co. Meeting in that building Tuesday night, the council viewed drawings that showed interior spaces converted to galleries and display areas.

Michael Mudd, the city’s manager of cultural affairs, said before the council meeting that “a major donation to the center” will be announced Monday at the City Council’s regular meeting.

The council voted to buy the Main Street building in July, 1988, after arts supporters had urged the action by stressing that the city had no municipal gallery for the fine arts. The building cost $758,000.

During a study session, the council Tuesday night was told that a private fund-raising group, the Huntington Beach Arts Center Foundation, is seeking to raise $900,000 to pay for renovating the building. The council also viewed drawings of a new plaza to be constructed in front of the arts center, which is at Main and Acacia streets.

Called “Celebration Plaza,” the new structure would be an outdoor amphitheater and fountain just north of the downtown library building. The council was told that the plaza and arts center combined will be a powerful magnet for attracting residents to the city’s redeveloped downtown.