By Steven Brown
The N.C. Dance Theatre building will include six studios as well as offices.
 After six years of design work and fundraising, N.C. Dance Theatre is ready to start construction on a studio and office building that will be its new home.
The $8.5 million building will be at North Tryon and West 10th streets, next to the McColl Center for Visual Art. It will hold six rehearsal studios plus a costume shop, offices and meeting rooms.
The project is a boost for the northern edge of uptown, which has trailed other areas of the center city. NCDT executive director Douglas Singleton said it would be part of North Tryon's “cultural mile,” along with Discovery Place, Levine Museum of the New South, The Light Factory, Spirit Square and the McColl Center.
The recession that created so many troubles for arts organizations will actually help in this project – thanks to falling prices for concrete and steel.
All the money for construction has been pledged, NCDT marketing director Logan McSwain said. Donors include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is giving $1.5 million. The Campaign for Cultural Facilities being run by the Arts & Science Council is slated to give $2.5 million. The Bank of America-owned site is assessed for tax purposes at $2.6 million.
Work will begin in the next few days, and NCDT plans to move into the building in spring 2010.
Ronnie Glassberg contributed.
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