Board OKs South Coast Repertory Expansion

South Coast Repertory’s board of directors has given formal approval to the theater company’s proposed expansion and voted unanimously to hire renowned architect Cesar Pelli to begin designs for the project.

“We’re hopeful that by late spring, Pelli and his associates would be in a position to present to the board their design concept and its estimated cost,” SCR producing artistic director David Emmes said Thursday.

The board votes came Wednesday night on the heels of a $1.3-million gift for the expansion donated two weeks ago by local high-tech mogul Henry T. Nicholas III and his wife, Stacey. Land for the project was promised last month by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, the real estate development family that gave the original property where SCR and the adjacent Orange County Performing Arts Center now stand.

The land for SCR is part of a six-acre parcel the Segerstrom family is giving to the center for its planned expansion.

SCR’s plans call for a new 300-seat theater to replace its 160-seat Second Stage, dressing rooms, a control booth and other support facilities, Emmes said. More classrooms for the Costa Mesa theater’s dramatic conservatory for adults and children also are on the drawing board.

Emmes declined to speculate on a total cost for the project. After SCR’s board assesses the feasibility of Pelli’s designs and costs, he said, it hopefully will launch a private effort to raise major gifts, then publicly announce a capital campaign to meet those costs.

Pelli, who has designed arts complexes around the country, was hired formally last month by the Segerstrom family to design the center’s expansion, which would begin with a concert hall and a smaller multipurpose theater.

The Connecticut-based architect also designed the glass Plaza Tower building adjacent to the center. He currently is at work on two medical laboratories at the UCLA to replace those damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Emmes expressed optimism Thursday about bringing the 35-year-old theater’s plans to fruition.

“There was a real unanimous feeling” among trustees, he said, “that this was a tremendous opportunity for SCR to move forward and fulfill the potential of our theater complex.”