Plan to upgrade Delray arts center advances

The city's centrally located Old School Square is home to an amphitheater, art museum and art school

Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square in Delray Beach
Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square in Delray Beach

Delray Beach has approved a plan to renovate Old School Square, a historic property that serves as a center for visual and performing arts.
The campus surrounding Old School Square is home to an amphitheater, art museum and art school, among other properties. The campus at 51 North Swinton Avenue spans more than six acres just north of East Atlantic Avenue.
The renovation plan would bring more shade to the Old School Square campus during daytime hours and improved lighting at night, plus a central plaza and a fountain or an interactive water feature for children.
The amphitheater would get a shade structure and terraced seating for as many as 3,000 people, under a plan developed by architectural firm Currie Sowards Aguila.
The Delray Beach City Commission has approved the renovation plan, which is pending further review by the city’s Historic Preservation Board and the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
Old School Square originally was Delray Beach’s education center, where an elementary school was built in 1913. The Palm Beach County public school system vacated Old School Square and put a chain-link fence around the property in the mid-1980s.
But Old School Square revived after Delray Beach launched a beautification project for the East Atlantic Avenue corridor in 1988.
According to its website, the Old School Square campus is home to the Cornell Art Museum, the Creative Arts School, the 323-seat Crest Theatre, and the Pavilion amphitheater. [Sun-Sentinel]Mike Seemuth

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