Levine Center for the Arts facts for kids
The Levine Center for the Arts is a cool place in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's on South Tryon Street and is home to several important cultural spots. These include the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, the Knight Theater, and the Mint Museum Uptown. The center is named after Leon Levine, whose foundation helped pay for it.
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How the Center Started
Back in 2003, a big plan was made to create new cultural buildings in Charlotte. This plan followed an older one from 1976 that helped build places like Spirit Square and Discovery Place. The idea was to bring more arts and culture to the city.
The first part of this new plan was going to cost a lot of money. It included moving the Mint Museum to a new spot uptown. It also planned for a new museum for modern art, named after Andreas Bechtler. Plus, there would be a new center for African-American culture and a large theater. At first, people voted against the idea in 2001, so it didn't happen right away.
Getting the Project Funded
In 2006, a new effort began to raise money for these cultural buildings. Big companies like Bank of America, Duke Energy, and Wachovia Corp. helped out. The plan was to build four of the five main attractions. The fifth, Discovery Place, was planning its own updates.
On September 27, 2007, construction officially began. This area was first called the Wachovia Cultural Campus. The tallest building planned for the complex was the Duke Energy Center. Other parts included the Harvey B. Gantt Center, the Bechtler Art Museum, and a condominium tower.
The Museums and Theater
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art was designed to hold about 1,200 artworks. These pieces were collected by Andreas Bechtler and his family over 75 years. The building itself is about 35,000 square feet.
The Wachovia Condominium Tower was supposed to be very tall, with 42 floors. However, because of the financial crisis around 2007-2009, only the Knight Theater part of the tower was built at first. The rest of the tower, called the Museum Tower, opened later in 2017.
The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture has four floors. It offers 45,000 square feet for art galleries, classrooms, and offices. It was officially opened on October 24, 2009.
Completing the Center
After Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, the city made sure the project would still be finished. The campus was briefly renamed for Wells Fargo. Then, after big donations from Duke Energy and the Leon Levine Foundation, enough money was raised. This led to the campus being renamed the Levine Center for the Arts.
On October 1, 2010, the new Mint Museum Uptown opened. It is 145,000 square feet and cost $56 million. This opening finished the entire $127 million campus. To celebrate, Charlotte's city council changed the name of First Street to Levine Avenue of the Arts. New street signs were put up on November 16.
