GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The groundbreaking for the long-awaited Tanger Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled to take place April 26.
Organizers said construction will begin the following week.
The $78 million project was announced in 2012. At that time, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro said the center would open in 2017.
"When I got involved in this I was thinking that we would be open really quickly. But I was very naive in understanding how long it takes to build a performing arts center," said Walker Sanders, who is leading the project.
According to Sanders, budgeting, designs and permit approvals have all played a role in the delays.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of building. This will be here for 100 years. We are not going to take shortcuts, we are going to build it the right way and this is going to be something that everybody is proud of," Sanders explained. "And to accomplish that took us some extra time."
Sanders said he's confident that the Tanger Performing Arts Center will be ready to open in Spring of 2019.
"We think it's a very reasonable goal," He said. "So barring any natural disasters we are building this Performing Arts Center and we are going to get this thing open in the next couple of years."
The center will cost more than $78 million. The cost will be split between taxpayers and private donors.