{"id":469251,"date":"2026-02-15T01:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T01:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:46:14","slug":"houston-county-schools-hire-architect-for-37m-cultural-center-heres-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469251\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston County schools hire architect for $37M cultural center | Here&#8217;s what we know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Houston County Schools hired an architect to design a proposed 3,000-seat cultural center on Cohen Walker Drive with an estimated cost of $37 million.<\/p>\n<p>HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. \u2014 People <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/local\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">in Houston County<\/a> could have a place to see performances from local to national shows in just five years.<\/p>\n<p>At Tuesday night&#8217;s Board of Education meeting, the Houston County School District approved an architect to draw up plans for a new cultural center.<\/p>\n<p>Perry Theatre alumna Xzandria Armstrong says it could not come soon enough, especially since her daughter is exploring theater.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think having that opportunity to have that space so that I don&#8217;t necessarily have to go to Macon,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p>She noted her daughter&#8217;s excitement for an upcoming school production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that they are doing an 8th grade play that they do every year. So I know Ava&#8217;s super excited about this 8th grade play,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p>Armstrong says the venue could be more than just an outlet for kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that&#8217;s gonna bring a lot of opportunities right here in Houston County,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the Board of Education only approved an architect, meaning there are no plans drawn. But the <a href=\"https:\/\/splost.houstoncountyga.gov\/project\/houston-county-cultural-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">county website<\/a> says the venue will have 3,000 seats and an estimated price tag of $37 million. $20 million will come from the county SPLOST, and $17 million from the school district&#8217;s E-SPLOST.<\/p>\n<p>Armstrong says it&#8217;s worth it because the center will bring money into the county.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they are going to foster the future, this $37 million is gonna definitely be an investment,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p>The county&#8217;s capital improvement plan shows funds going to the center from 2027 to 2030 from the 2024 SPLOST. The intended location is Cohen Walker Drive, near the Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n<p>The school district hired Robertson Loia Roof from Alpharetta to design the plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston County Schools hired an architect to design a proposed 3,000-seat cultural center on Cohen Walker Drive with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-469251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}