A planned $130.7 million Salisbury University performing arts center in downtown Salisbury, Maryland, has moved closer to construction with its inclusion in state budget. The estimated $130 million project will provide new academic and performance space for the university’s music, dance and theater programs.
The center is planned for the site of the Paul S. Sarbanes branch of the Wicomico Public Library, replacing the university’s earlier proposal to renovate and expand the Maggs Center.
The new center will replace inadequate performance, academic and administrative space with a modern facility that will include a 600- to 800-seat main auditorium, a smaller 200- to 300-seat venue, a flexible dance performance area and classrooms, offices and other support space.
Placing the center in the new location increases the university’s footprint in the downtown area. University leaders say it will not only provide educational experiences, but also attract economic opportunity from the time construction begins through its projected opening in five years and into the future. Besides the university performances, they expect the center to bring in outside events and shows.
Salisbury University previously received $1 million grants in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, which were matched by $2 million in university funds for design and demolition work at the library site.
SU purchased the library site from the county as part of a property exchange in which the university sold its property at 909 Schumaker Drive to the county. The county plans to convert that site, which includes the former Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, into a new library branch. The Wicomico Public Library’s Sarbanes branch is expected to relocate there in 2027. University officials anticipate private donors will contribute $20 million in funding toward the project’s total cost.
Photo by Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
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