DavidsonNews.net

Davidson Day School is preparing to build a new $1.6 million arts and athletics center on the school campus along Griffith Street. The building plans were announced at a capital campaign kickoff Thursday night at the Peninsula Club. Ground-breaking is planned for mid March for the new facility, which will include a 227-seat theater next door to a gymnasium/locker room facility.

“This is designed not only for school use but for the community,” Head of School Bonnie Cotter told DavidsonNews.net. “We want to really be part of the arts community.”

The arts and athletics center will complete the campus for Davidson Day. The private school - which has traditional, Montessori and college prep programs - moved in the fall to its prominent new 15-acre location off of the I-77 entrance to Davidson.

The school first opened in 1999 as the Acclaim Academy, then located in the Liburdi factory building. The ninth grade was added in 2005, which is also when the school became affiliated with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent schools. Davidson Day now has an enrollment of about 330 students.

The new center will connect to the existing two-story brick school building from the east side of the campus, filling in the open space between the school and the the Spinnaker Cove residential development. Construction is scheduled to be finished in time to open for the upcoming school year. That’s also when Davidson Day plans to add a 12th grade class and so fulfull its goal of being a school for pre-K all the way through high school.

“This is obviously a very big thing for us,” Ms. Cotter said.

The new building will be used by varsity basketball and volleyball teams, and also by the school’s band, chorus and theater groups. Ms. Cotter stressed that, in addition, the center will provide space for outside theater groups and other community ogranizations. She noted that the theater space was designed after consulting professionals involved with the Belk Theatre at Davidson College and with the Imaginon Children’s Theatre in downtown Charlotte. As the building campaign announcement notes, “It’s a welcome addition for the Greater Davidson community, which will benefit directly from this new first-class arts and athletics venue.”

Some specifics on the new center:

• Total size of the facility will be 14,180 square feet, including a 3,328 square foot performance hall and a 9,412 square foot gymnasium.
• The auditorium will feature a removable thrust stage.
• The gym courts will have maple floors.

Filed under: Parks & Rec, Planning & Development, Schools