ALO HQ Breaks Ground & Breaks Into Song

Leave it to a company that specializes in grand theatrical gestures to mark the start of construction for its new headquarters and music school with a flourish worthy of the stage. When Austin Lyric Opera broke ground for its new Mary Ann Heller Center at the corner of Barton Springs Road and Bouldin, it wasn't content with the symbolism or entertainment value offered by a shovel turning a spadeful of earth or even a mayoral endorsement (which it had); after all, this was not only an impressive new facility for the local company (19,000 square feet, including a 5,000-sq.-ft. rehearsal studio), it was the first step in establishing a music school for the community and the first of the proposed cultural and community projects scheduled for the South Shore of Town Lake to break ground. If ever there was an occasion for song, this was it. So sing ALO did. A chorus of dozens clad in blue denim workshirts and canary yellow construction helmets belted out "The Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's Il Trovatore as the kickoff to the ceremony. It gave the otherwise earnest and purposeful event a festive air that made one all the more eager for the building to be realized.

Design for the $3.5 million facility was provided by the prestigious firm Lake|Flato. Construction will be handled by White Construction Company (general contractor) and Bury Pittman Inc. (civil engineers). The project manager is Charlie Ball of Dell Computer Corporation.

--Robert Faires