$85 million mixed-use development in Columbus envisioned with band music center
The High School Band Directors National Association plans to build in Columbus a facility comprising a museum, hall of fame, learning resources center, audio/visual technology center, performance hall and headquarters
HSBDNA executive director Oliver Boone told the Ledger-Enquirer the nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1985 in Daytona Beach, Florida, has outgrown its space on the RiverPark campus of Columbus State University, where it’s been since 2005.
The current space “just houses the hall of fame and some small artifacts,” Boone said, and the HSBDNA wants “other artifacts that are in storage facilities to be brought out so we can put them in a museum.”
Boone described the plan for a new facility that would include multiple functions under one roof.
“What we hope to do with our organization,” he said, “is to be an educational resource center that is a national Google, if you will, for music teachers, for training of teachers, training of students, to assist in whatever we can do to further promote music education, in this particular instance band education.”
HSBDNA board member Bill Meek noted schools often need help to provide the band education they want for their students.
“Sometimes the schools just can’t open it all up, and funding is always a problem,” he told the L-E. “But if there’s a facility where they can get that done and give their (students) their own expression for their music, that’s really important.”
Meek gave his spiel about why band music education is important beyond the performance.
“There’s discipline, there’s practice, there’s self-esteem, motivation, different things that go on in their lives, that they have to do in the outside world, in the corporate world, in their businesses or in their jobs and stuff,” he said. “And I know for a fact that employers are looking for people who can be reliable, and you’ve got those that aren’t. And the ones that are reliable, they are the ones that are succeeding. They’re ones moving forward because they have the discipline to work hard. They understand hard work. They understand all of that stuff.”
The HSBDNA also has provided scholarships and sheet music and supported high school bands in other ways.
“We’ve helped them with uniforms,” Boone said. “We had bands after (Hurricane) Katrina where they lost everything, and so we found old uniforms across the country that were donated.”
Boone is among the 66 members of the HSBDNA Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 1992. Under his direction, the Kendrick High School band won first place in a national competition at the Dixie Classics Festival in Richmond, Virginia, and was selected to perform in parades and other events throughout the United States, also in the Netherlands, Finland and France.
2 options for new HSBDNA facility in Columbus
The HSBDNA is raising money for this project, Boone said, but hasn’t decided its scale. It could be a standalone facility or, if enough funding is secured, part of a larger development for multiple uses, he said.
Boone and Meek said they aren’t at liberty to disclose the sites in Columbus the HSBDNA is considering, but the smaller version would be on a vacant property covering about 2½ acres.
While pursuing that option, Boone said, the HSBDNA received a $20 million pledge that would cover the project’s smaller version, but the donor urged the organization to expand the project’s vision into something grander.
Such a mixed-use development, costing around $85 million, would require at least 25 acres and could involve “all types of commerce,” Boone said, plus a hotel.
“That benefits the high schools when they would come in for competitions,” Meek said.
Asked which way the HSBDNA is leaning, Boone said, “The dream is to do the larger project.”
Regardless, the HSBDNA facility would cover roughly 10,000-square feet, Boone said, and its performing arts center could be rented out as an event venue to generate revenue for the organization.
Fundraising for new HSBDNA in Columbus
Boone said he has contacted a professional fundraising company in Washington, D.C., “and they’re very interested in helping us.”
In addition to funding the construction of this project, the HSBDNA hopes to raise enough money to establish an endowment for operations and scholarships, Boone said.
Boone suggested a donation to this cause would be an investment not only for band music education across the nation but also for economic development in Columbus. He cited a University of Georgia study that estimates such a facility would create around 13 jobs and boost tourism.
For more information about this project, Boone welcomes folks to call him at 706-570-9007, email him at oboone9007@bellsouth.net or visit the association’s website at hsbdna.org.
