Bell Auditorium reopens, James Brown Arena closes this week
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The newly renovated Bell Auditorium will be officially reopened on Tuesday, and the James Brown Arena will close on Friday to build a new one.
The Bell Auditorium has been closed since June of last year for millions of dollars of upgrades.
The official ribbon cutting was at 4:30 p.m. and we were to show you the first look inside the new venue.
And right as the auditorium reopens, the James Brown Arena will close its doors on Friday.
It’s to be torn down in July, with a new arena being built with the funding from the half-penny sales tax.
With the arena closing, it may seem like entertainment crowds heading to downtown may slow down, but Brad Usry, co-chair of the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority, says otherwise.
“I think the economic boom is going to start with the construction, and on the other side with the Bell, we have promoters wanting to come in this building and we’ve got some shows from the horizon that we haven’t announced yet,” he said. “I think the city is going to be excited about it.”
And now you can finally go inside.
“When you walk in the building, you have this grand, beautiful lobby, that really takes you back in time. You feel like you’re on stage, basically, you’re behind the curtain,” said Usry.
Taking just under $20 million to complete it, there are lots of additions to see, such as a bigger lobby and VIP area, a speakeasy, more bathrooms and dressing rooms and more.
“We’ve modernized it, so we can get more use out of the whole building. And I think when people come to the show, you’re gonna feel it,” he said. “Artists who would come in here now and go, Wow. And I think that they’ll go in back to Nashville to go back wherever they came from, and say, You guys need to go play that new bell auditorium.”
Doing all of this while also preserving the Bell’s history.
“We’re excited that we were able to preserve the character of the Bell while modernizing for optimal use. And we’re proud and we were proud that we were able to deliver on all the promises we made to the Augusta Richmond County citizens a year ago,” said Usry.
And getting ready for their next project, the James Brown Arena.
“The project is on time. We’re getting everybody hired when you get them in place to get started. I think they’re decommissioning the building in the month of June,” said Usry.
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