PORT ANGELES — Field Arts & Events Hall will open to the public as a regional performance and conference center on July 1, 2023, the executive director has announced.
Work on the final phase of construction on the 41,000-square-foot project at Oak and Front streets in Port Angeles began Monday.
“The resumption of construction on Monday is a dream come true for our board and staff,” said Brooke Taylor, president of the board of directors, in a press release.
The finished structure will include a 500-seat performance venue and 400-person conference center.
Work on the center had been paused in April 2021 to focus on fundraising. Now, more than $40 million has been raised of the approximately $50 million project.
“We are now full steam ahead as we enter the final phase of our capital campaign and that of construction,” said Steven Raider-Ginsburg, executive director, in the release.
“This week is a milestone week for downtown Port Angeles,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“We’re on our way to complete the largest nonprofit building and investment in county history.”
The service area for the center is expected to be from Forks to Port Townsend, while advertising will spread over a wider circle from Victoria to the Interstate 5 corridor, Raider-Ginsburg said.
He spoke of the numbers of people from Clallam County to East Jefferson County for Centrum events and other entertainment.
“I think we’ll have a nice reciprocal cultural exchange on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Workers are from Clallam, Jefferson or Kitsap counties, according to Chris Fidler, project manager.
“I’m personally excited about restarting the project,” Fidler said Tuesday.
“We have over 200,000 craft hours involved with this work, and much of those are coming from folks who live and work on the Olympic Peninsula,” he said.
Raider-Ginsburg said he had coffee and muffins with the workers on Monday and “every single contractor and worker was living on the North Olympic Peninsula.”
Work was paused after all exterior work was completed. Now, it will focus on finishing the interior, such as outfitting the auditorium, installing equipment and seating and doing ceiling work, Fidler said.
Kyle Paulen, project executive with Seattle Operating Group, Mortenson Construction, said that the company was glad to see work resume.
“The community and Field Arts and Events Hall continued to push forward and successfully restart the project,” said Paulen, who lives on the Olympic Peninsula.
He described the building of the center as “a truly amazing story of resilience despite unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“The team collectively stayed engaged, waiting for the opportune moment to finish what we started,” he continued.
“This resilience is also evident with our trade partners. Of the 47 trade partners contracted to execute the project, over 95 percent resumed their original contract with 100 percent participation from local trade partners.”
The capital campaign will run for another 12 months, finishing up by end of next summer, Raider-Ginsburg said.
He said that bookings are being pursued now but won’t be contracted, and announced, until after the first of 2023.
For more information, see www.fieldhallevents.org, email info@fieldhallevents.org or call the office at 360-477-4679.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Matt Johnson of D.L. Henricksen Co. looks up interior ceiling fixtures of the Field Arts & Events Hall on Tuesday in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
