HOLLAND, Mich. - After years of budgeting and renovation, it's finally happening! The Holland Civic Center is set to reopen this weekend.
The George and Lucile Heeringa Civic Center is scheduled to make its public debut this Saturday. From local basketball games to big entertainment acts, management tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE this facility will do it all.
"Get a lot of variety of live entertainment and still take care of local community events," John Siehl Vice President of VenuWorks, the management company, told 13 ON YOUR SIDE on Thursday.
The new and improved Civic Center has a basketball court, a stage and the ability to seat at least 2,000 people. But the journey wasn't always easy. Last summer a partial roof collapse killed one construction worker and seriously injured another. Just last week, Civic Center Manager Barbara Wiggins abruptly resigned, just days before the opening.
"We'll be placing an advertising nationally probably by Monday and our focus is to get a Civic Center GM in here as soon as possible," Siehl said.
In the meantime, the excitement remains for the improved facility that doesn't stray away from its history. Pieces of the old Civic Center bleachers can be found along some of the stairs and the fireplace and you can even spot a few old Civic Center chairs in the upper balcony.
The building boasts a new lobby, venue space, and rental rooms, that brings in views of a developing downtown.
"Right now with the renovations and resurgence to the downtown and the gorgeous renovation I think we can become just a very high profile piece," Siehl added.
Siehl says they're already working on some pretty big acts to bring here very soon. He says they'll make those announcements in the coming days.
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