You may have already heard that there has been a dramatic turnaround for the highly vaunted Center for the Arts and Innovation and a slap to the face of City Council. The company responsible for its development has dropped out of its contract. Citing certain “challenges” and an “unfortunate impasse” with City Council, the organization notified the City that it will no longer continue with the project.
You could not miss the hype and publicity that The Center for Arts and Innovation (TCAI) generated. Touted as the ultimate draw to bring visitors on the Brightline to Boca Raton, the crown jewel of attactions to put Boca on the map.
Certainly, a grand and ambitious effort to redefine the amphitheater and empty land on the north side of Mizner Park. It would foster art, dance, performance, and art education. A multi- million campus of creativity and entertainment, planned to break ground in 2025, completed in 2029.
What Happened
In truth, this would have been a stellar addition to downtown. A performance center comparable to Kravitz Center in West Palm Beach and the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale. In scope it would match the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC) a world class center of technology. It was estimated to bring in over $1.3 billion in economic impact in the first five years and more than half a million new annual visitors to the city.
Because of the immense scope and cost of the project, however, city council was cautious regarding its funding. As we see with the Mandarian Oriental, another much hyped project, having the desire to build does not necessarily mean a project will be finished, or even started. City council didn’t want this to be a public burden if financing fell flat. So they required a series of fundraising goals that had to be accomplished.
While there were some issues with the design, reality struck it at the October 21 CRA meeting. City council expected to hear that first fundraising goal of $50 million had been met. Hooray!
Instead, they raised only $8 million in cash, and $32 million in pledges. They missed the funding goal by $10 million, assuming that the pledges actually resulted in cash in hand. You can’t pay a contractor with pledges.
Unfortunately, city council appears to have been caught off guard. No matter how important and immense this project was, there appears to have been insufficient communication between the two independent parties. To have a public meeting to reveal a fundraising success, only to report a failure, is a huge public embarrassment. One of the first rules in public relations is “don’t invite a guest speaker unless you are sure what they will say.”
It would be like Mayor Singer waiting in the Brightline platform to inaugurate the service, only to have the train speed past him. The change in emphasis from being a local commuter service, to a regional transportation, was already a blow to Brightline supporters in the city.
We cannot call the TCAI dead yet. Merely down. There are enough movers and shakers in town to rekindle the fire and start anew. Perhaps even start from the ashes of TCAI. According to Andrea Virgin, Chair, CEO and Capital Donor of The Center for Arts & Innovation, they still want to develop the center. But “whether in Boca Raton or another site.” So it’s possible this wonderful resource might just slip through Boca’s fingers. That Brightline train full of art patrons may just pass Boca Raton after all.
But there are two critical lessons to be learned here.
From a public relations standpoint, never leave yourself open to a possible embarrassment, as the city had. If you are planning to hear amazingly good news, make sure that’s the news you are going to hear. It’s a rule as basic as always have fewer chairs than needed at an event. Better to look like a crowd than an empty audience.
Second, if you want to play with the big boys, be prepared and leave nothing to chance.
