Funds anticipated for SSU music hall

Concert chairs, the most conspicuous item missing from Sonoma State University's new $110 million music center and concert hall, may be as close as California's next budget.

The California State University system's capital program in the 2009-2010 budget includes $1.7 million for 1,400 custom chairs and $800,000 to finish the audio-visual system.

"We have high confidence, 85 percent, that it is likely to happen," said Larry Furukawa-Schlereth, the university's vice president of finance.

The remainder of the money to complete the music center, $18 million, is being sought as part of the CSU's stimulus fund proposal and remains in doubt.

"They wanted shovel-ready projects that could go immediately and the Green Music Center has many of those," Furukawa-Schlereth said. "It got prioritized in the list, but no one is completely clear how the stimulus package will work."

The Green Music Center is named after telecommunications pioneer Don Green and his wife, Maureen, who got the project going with a $10 million donation in 1997.

It consists of a music education building that opened last fall, the adjacent Schroeder's Recital Hall, which is now just a shell and needs about $6 million to complete, and a hospitality center and restaurant that is nearly completed.

The centerpiece is the concert hall, which will be home to the Santa Rosa Symphony, be a venue for performances by rock groups and singers, and act as the campus' largest lecture hall.

The hall is made of three different types of wood, will seat 1,400 on the floor and in the wrap-around balconies, have adjustable drapes and sound-absorbing panels on the walls and five levels of risers for the on-stage musicians.

It has been largely completed, except for the chairs, which will take 18 months to order and install, and the audio-visual system.

There are other parts of the music center that need to be done, however, before a note can be played, at a cost of $12 million.

They includes the lobby, bathrooms, instrument storage rooms, soloist and conductors rooms and showers.

The university is seeking the $18 million in donations to finish both the concert hall complex and Schroeder's Recital Hall.

So far, about $45 million has been donated and $47 million raised from state funds and bonds.

"If I were to get a check today for $18 million, I could have it opened within 20 to 24 months," said Christopher Dinno, SSU architect and senior director of capital programs. "We are close to wrapping it up, but it hinges on the funding."

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com