A $23.5 million lecture hall expected to bring notable authors, journalists and scientists to Newport Beach will advance with groundbreaking expected as soon as next month.
The City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 9, voted 4-3 to move forward with a new agreement between the city and the Newport Beach Library Foundation, in which each entity is expected to provide $11.7 million toward construction.
The new agreement also includes a measure to limit cost increases by preventing the foundation from making any enhancements to the ongoing project until it has paid the city the full $11.7 million. And it changes the priority use of the hall.
Where originally the use was to be governed by the Board of Library Trustees, the latest version of the agreement now gives 50 days a year to the foundation for events, and the remainder of the scheduling goes to the city. The foundation will also pay up to $700 per event.
Already set to be named Witte Hall – in honor of a $4 million donation commitment from longtime supporters Bill Witte and Kaiko Sakamoto for its construction – the 10,000-square-foot hall could break ground as early as the end of February, said Jerold Kappel, CEO of the library’s foundation.
If all stays on schedule, the lecture hall at the library could be open by 2026.
Discussion during Tuesday night’s council meeting included concern over the continued rising cost of the hall – in 2021, the estimate was $13 million.
The council majority said the lecture hall would be a valuable addition to the Civic Center, which also features an extensive sculpture garden.
“I really like building infrastructure projects; it’s everything a community should do,” Councilmember Noah Blom said. “This is our civic center and turning it into a cultural piece is very important, whether I attend a lecture series or not.”
Blom, who was part of an ad-hoc committee that worked through the new agreement with the foundation, added that the city has a surplus, which…
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