The walls have been torn down and the ceiling knocked out at the old United Automotive Service Building on Spruce Street downtown.
At the Sawtooth building next door, the paintings have long been gone, the workshops long empty. Red spray paint marks what will be ripped out starting next week: The walls, the doors and, yes, even the maze that snaked around the Sawtooth School of the Arts' gallery.
The black-box theater and new studio spaces that will go in their places are still blueprint visions, but crews started last week gutting the buildings to make way for the Downtown Center for the Arts -- an $11 million complex that will be owned by the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Arts Council and home to the Hanesbrands Theatre and Sawtooth School for Visual Art.
Construction cannot begin until all the permits are approved, but crews can demolish the inside of the buildings.
The complex is supposed to be finished by spring or summer 2010, said Richard Emmett, the Arts Council's chief operating officer. The council has raised $21 million of the $26 million it needs to build and operate the complex, Emmett said. The council is planning a groundbreaking ceremony at the complex for Jan. 29. He said that the council would start a fundraising drive at the ceremony to raise the remaining $5 million.
Emmett said that the Downtown Center for the Arts will be built, whether the council raises the money or not. The council already has been approved for a construction loan from BB&T, he said.
"It's still a lot of money," he said. "But construction is a go."
The question will be whether the council can afford to open the center, he said.
"Unless we get the money, we might have to delay," he said.
The Arts Council has hired the Frank L. Blum construction company as the general contractor for the project.
On Wednesday, Mark Gill, the project superintendent who works for the construction company, walked around the old United Automotive garage and pointed out the highlights of the new theater.
The stage will face Spruce Street. Fire doors will become art pieces. A balcony will ring the garage. Crews will remove the roof and reinforce the metal roof supports, so theater curtains can hang from them. The roof will then be replaced.
The building's old offices will become the theater's lobby, with ticket-sales kiosks and a concessions stand.
The theater could be host to some of the city's theater companies -- the N.C. Black Repertory Co., the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem and the Children's Theatre of Winston-Salem. Those companies perform now at the Hanes Community Center theater on Coliseum Drive.
Emmett said he expects construction to begin on the Hanesbrands Theatre at the Sawtooth building after the city inspections department reviews and approves the construction plans.
"This is a big project," he said. "We're excited to be able to go forward."
■ Laura Graff can be reached at 727-7279 or at lgraff@wsjournal.com.
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