North Carolina’s only Catholic Church-affiliated college has picked an architect for a $25 million performing arts center that has already banked $9 million in state funding. Belmont Abbey College picked Charlotte-based Little Diversified Architectural Consulting for the project.
The Belmont college, located about 20 miles west of Charlotte in Gaston County, has secured about $12.5 million in funding, including the $9 million promised from the state in 2023. The college is in the process of raising funds to cover the remaining costs.
The college picked Little “because of the firm’s expertise in designing world-class performing arts spaces, along with their commitment to creating a facility that will serve as a vibrant hub for artistic expression and cultural enrichment,” according to a release. Little’s past work in the area – Gaston Day School’s Pamela Kimbrell Warlick Visual & Performing Arts Center, Warlick Family YMCA, Charlotte Catholic High School’s Fine Arts Center, Central Piedmont Community College’s Overcash Academic & Performing Arts Center, Queens University of Charlotte’s Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for Arts and Civic Engagement – also weighed into the decision.
“We look forward to partnering with Belmont Abbey College and the surrounding region to bring their vision to reality,” says Tom Balke, a principal at Little. “Creating a performance and cultural space that provides unique experiences while reflecting this community’s aspirations is an important driver of the design outcomes.”
Little will work with college and community leaders to develop a plan for a 1,000-seat theater. Belmont Abbey is in the process of selecting a general contractor for the project, and will work with Little to finalize timelines for when construction can begin and be completed.
Belmont Abbey says the arts center will bring the community to the campus to experience theater, visual and performing arts, art exhibits and other educational and cultural events. More than 1,500 students attend the college, which was founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks. In recent years, the college has partnered with nonprofit CaroMont Health to start a nursing program. A 66-bed CaroMont Health hospital will open in early 2025 on land adjacent to the college in a lease agreement with the religious order.
In February 2023, Belmont Abbey launched a $100 million capital campaign, which was upped to $150 million a year later.
Abby Vice President Phil Brach says Little was the right choice to bring the college’s heritage and future together. “We are confident that they will create a space that not only meets the needs of our community but also becomes a beacon of artistic excellence, known throughout the state,” Brach says in a release.
As part of performing arts project, Belmont Abbey will also renovate its 200-seat Haid Theatre, which was constructed in 1929. It will be preserved alongside the new venue.
Besides a cultural hub, the new venue will improve the quality of life in Gaston County and be a recruitment tool for new companies looking to expand, says Donny Hicks, the county’s Economic and Community Development director. “The visual and performing arts center will be a huge asset to us in the recruitment of people and companies and in creating the kind of environment in which people want to live,” says Hicks.