Fairfax County officials on Monday lent their support to building a massive arts center on the site of a former D.C. prison.
The Workhouse Arts Center would be created from 30 renovated buildings on the Lorton prison grounds, part of a larger redevelopment push on the county-owned property.
“It’s a world-class cultural arts center that will be unparalleled in the United States,” said Tina Leone, CEO of the Lorton Arts Foundation, the nonprofit group planning the project. “It’s going to be a standout.”
The Board of Supervisors unanimously endorsed the foundation’s $26 million bond package that pays for the bulk of the first phase of construction and renovation, and was expected to approve a 55-acre land lease at nearly no cost later in the meeting.
The arts center is just one of a number of redevelopment projects at Lorton.
The historic 2,000-plus-acre property is now home to an 18-hole golf course. In addition to the center, the land will one day contain a mix of houses and stores.
For at least five years, Fairfax County will donate $1 million in maintenance costs to the Lorton Arts Foundation, said Leonard Wales, the county’s debt manager.
Leone said work on the first phase could begin this summer and finish late next year.
The total project could cost as much as $100 million and take 10 years to complete.
She expects revenue from the center to eventually pay off the construction and renovation.
