New performing arts center carries big price, big hopes

PHILADELPHIA -- Great expectations surround the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the glittering new home of the Philadelphia Orchestra that opens Friday with a $5,000-per-ticket gala featuring Elton John.

The city is counting on the $265 million Kimmel Center to create thousands of jobs, spur business and residential development, and attract a whole new audience to the theater district known as the Avenue of the Arts.

"We want to be the rainmaker. We want to open our umbrella and let it rain all over the Avenue," said center president Leslie Anne Miller.

The Kimmel's economic and cultural impact won't be known for years. But supporters say that new performing arts centers in cities such as Cleveland and Newark, N.J., have encouraged development, helped orchestras' bottom lines and cemented cultural reputations.

Critics aren't sure the benefits are worth the expense, noting that it's hard to establish a direct link between economic development and public works projects. State and local governments have contributed nearly $100 million to the Kimmel.

"I'm not sure you can say something as limited as a performing arts center can be responsible for a city's revitalization," said Rutgers University political scientist Elizabeth Strom, who is studying the impact of cultural districts in Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle and Houston.

Officials say the Kimmel will create 3,000 jobs and generate $153 million in annual spending on tickets, parking, restaurants, hotels and the like. The building itself isn't expected to be profitable for several years.

The arts center is part of a decade-long push to make Philadelphia a premier tourist destination. The city has seen hundreds of millions of dollars worth of development, include a new convention center and sports arena, thousands of new hotel rooms and a restaurant boom.