A musical conversion: Work on orchestra's new home to begin

Construction workers with A&A The Art of Destruction walk under the newly exposed balcony area after removing part of the false ceiling on the east side of the Reilly Arts Center, the old City Auditorium, Thursday afternoon September 25, 2014. The rest of the renovations to the building to accommodate the Ocala Symphony Orchestra will not be done until the symphony raises more funds.

The tempo of the Reilly Arts Center project has just accelerated from andante to allegro.

The construction funds are in place, the plans have been approved, the permits have been pulled, and the work begins Monday on converting the former City Auditorium at Tuscawilla Park into the Reilly Arts Center, the long-awaited home of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra.

We always believed this day would come but, now that its here, its even more exciting than we thought it could be because its a collaboration of the community and some people who had a dream. That dream is real. Its real now, said Cindy Van Heyde, the symphonys president.

If all goes as planned, the music will begin in October.

Van Heyde said that, preliminarily, the thought is to have the opening the third weekend in October.

And, there will be 736 seats for patrons, more than the 665 originally contemplated. Van Heyde said the final calculations showed more seating space was available.

We have been assured every seat is going to be very comfortable, Van Heyde said. We are not squeezing them in.

Like the music itself, the Arts Centers design will be a mixture of classical and contemporary.

The 1930s art deco facade and the original steel bow trusses, crowning what will be a completely renovated seating section 40 feet below, will be preserved. Those two distinctive retro architectural features will be enhanced with the installation of cutting-edge acoustics and a high-quality multimedia system.

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A musical conversion: Work on orchestra's new home to begin