As of September 22 2023, a consultant firm has been awarded and the master plan has been completed. *The closed solicitation has been included below for reference: The City of Morganton CoMMA Performing Arts Center is seeking an experienced performing arts center architect and theater consultant to create a 10 to 15-year Vision and Masterplan by working with Friends of CoMMA, citizens, city council and staff to develop a plan for innovative updates and expansions to the existing building. City staff will review all submittals and narrow the field down to no more than 4. The final group will be interviewed on site at CoMMA the week of June 13, and a decision made by June 17th . The selection process will be based on the teams past experience; the team that best addresses our needs; experience with stakeholder meetings; and creative visioning The City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) now called CoMMA Performing Arts Center, opened its doors officially on November 6, 1986, to a sold-out audience of the Broadway national tour of "The Tap Dance Kid." Funded by a local bond referendum, Morganton's then new performance place seated more than 1,000 with state of the art technical complements. The lobby was designed to serve as an art and display gallery for the enjoyment and enlightenment of theatre and concert-goers. Located on the College Street site where Grace Hospital had stood for more than 50 years, CoMMA set a standard early on as one of the best performing arts venues in the Southeast. MainStage Morganton has been the flagship performance series since Day One. It has consistently offered more than 20 international, national and regional artists and artist groups in performance on the theatre's 40-foot proscenium stage. CoMMA is in Downtown Morganton, but 6 blocks from center of downtown. The building is a brick veneer, and the interior has been extremely well preserved. People tend not to walk even if they had dinner before the show in downtown, instead arrive solely by car. CoMMA has 1056 seats on 2 levels and is roughly 24,361 square feet. There are 250 parking spaces on site, so out of town folks struggle to find parking when attendance is over 800 which then makes them late for the performance and unhappy when they walk thru the door. The exterior of the building is predominantly brick with a large glass front; has an outdoor amphitheater; a small grassy area as a part of the amphitheater; and brick walkways approaching the amphitheater. It is underutilized and does not function well. CoMMA is easily accessible from I-40 and has wayfinding signage as well as a large electronic sign located on S. Sterling Street (Hwy 18) and College Street which displays upcoming shows. The week of May 9th, there will be an installation of artistic signage placed on the building for the first time ever. Since the initial build, there has not been a long term plan or review of the entire CoMMA space. There are no funds set aside in the current year's budget. There is projected to be $75,000 in the upcoming 22-23 budget year which starts July 1, 2022. This budget is for the completion of a creative, progressive, dynamic, well- defined Masterplan complete with conceptual renderings and drawings to provide direction such that any construction needs that might come out of this can then go to an architect for drawings and estimates. This includes any round trip travel necessary to get to Morganton NC The Master planning process (i.e. public meetings, surveys, site visits) must start in August 2022 and be completed by September 2022. Final product should be provided to the project manager no later than December 15, 2022, in order to prepare for capital budgets. The method of Contractor Selection has not been Determined at this time.
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