The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is a product of private and public cooperation and funding. The project was born from the desire of the private sector to have a local world class facility that was capable of attracting the finest talent that the performing arts community had to offer. The 55 million dollar center, which will be fully funded upon opening, was paid for primarily by donations from the private sector, along with additional funding and the full cooperation of Palm Beach County, the state of Florida, and the city of West Palm Beach.

The compact 5.4 acre site includes a 2300 seat multi-purpose theater, a 300 seat playhouse, a 2300 seat outdoor concert venue, and a 1000 car parking garage, along with the required stormwater retention areas. The building site was donated by an investor who had recently purchased and razed a downtown area for future development. The Kravis Center is anticipated to be the focal point of the redeveloped area.

Neal, Smith and Associates had been associated with the project since its inception. The landscape architectural firm was primarily responsible for the production of planting and irrigation construction documents, and project administration. They also had considerable input working with the project architects and engineers into the site design and the preparation of site construction documents.

The landscape budget for the project was approximately $300,000.00. This amount was conservative, but necessary due to the need to meet the goal of bringing the center to completion on time and within the owner's available resources.

South Florida experiences continuing problems with the availability of potable water. The city of west Palm Beach's development order for the downtown redevelopment program, in which the Kravis Center was included, mandated that no potable water was to be allowed for irrigation use. This factor was a major consideration in the decisions that affected the overall appearance of the site planting.

The landscape design of the project had to balance two primary planting considerations:

- The appearance of the center needed to conform to the user's (year round as well as seasonal residents, and visitors) conceptions of tropical south Florida planting.

- Water use, and long term maintenance requirements had to be minimized.

Conformance to the stereotypical south Florida planting type would normally require a large amount of palm trees, flowering trees, tropical and colorful underplantings, and annuals. Unfortunately, the use of many of these elements was inconsistent with the site soil type, the statewide requirement for a xeriphytic type landscape, and the owner's natural desire for a project that was reasonably easy and cost effective to maintain.

A compromise was reached where the portions of the site directly adjacent to the pedestrian and vehicular use were planted with tropical exotic, but still basically drought resistant plants. Rather than using extensive annual areas, more attention was made to the planting of flowering, drought tolerant shrubs such as Ixora and Oleander. With the exception of the amphitheater area, large areas of turf were minimized.

In the portions of the site that were not as likely to receive the close scrutiny of the pedestrian, the plantings returned to a much more xeriphytic and native variety. Heavy use was made of

Cocoplum, Seagrape, Myrsine, Spanish Stopper, Lantana and

other south Florida native species. Within these plantings, exotic but drought tolerant native shrubs were included. The extensive grassy dry retention area was planted with a drought tolerant Bahia lawn, which will require very little additional water after establishment.

The entire irrigation system as well as the large reflecting pool utilizes ground water. Due to possible future problems with salt water intrusion and poor quality water, great care was taken in the design and construction of the water well so the potential for plant deterioration was minimized.

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is a showcase project that proves that the private sector is perfectly capable of fulfilling their dreams without major government participation. That a project of this size and scope could be completed by the private sector with only the cooperation and minority funding support of the government is an example to all those visionaries who have similar aspirations for their communities. LASN