Beaming with pride at Hancher

IOWA CITY - Lee Gatlin has traveled the country overseeing stadium development for Mortenson Construction, but if the Kansas City, Mo., native gets to stay in the Corridor after the new Hancher Auditorium opens, he said he and his wife will buy season tickets.

He didn't fully realize the performing arts center's significance when he was placed on the job a year ago May, then moved to North Liberty. That quickly changed as he began supervising the job for the Hancher construction management company.

'This is very important for this area, and I'm just glad to be part of it,” he said Wednesday, Oct. 8, as the designers, site workers and about 125 citizens gathered to celebrate the near-midpoint of the $176 million structure set to open in the fall of 2016.

'For artists, this is our Carver-Hawkeye. This is the big stage - this is the big show,” Manchester native Susan Werner said. The 1986 University of Iowa graduate sang for the outdoor ceremony, then moved indoors to serenade the workers, becoming the first artist to grace the new Hancher stage.

Earlier in the week, the public was invited to come to the construction site - just up the hill from the former complex destroyed by the Floods of 2008 - and autograph a steel beam that was hoisted into place at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It will disappear from view as construction continues, but about 1,000 signers answered the call, thus leaving their mark on the new performing arts center.

'People came with a story,” Chuck Swanson, Hancher's executive director, said. 'One woman was crying, because it brought back memories of her parents, who she always used to bring to Hancher.”

He also enjoyed seeing the parents and grandparents who brought children to the signing.

'They all talked about the fact that they want their kids to have the experience that they've had in Hancher,” Swanson said. 'It just shows that the generations come and go and Hancher continues to provide such enrichment. And that's what's exciting.

'Everybody misses the place,” he said. 'We've been doing great things, but everybody's ready - more than ready” for the building's return.

None more so than folk singer/songwriter Werner, who says her furniture lives in Chicago while she tours the world performing. She fondly recalled attending Hancher shows on school field trips, performing in operas there as an undergraduate, then returning to sing in the professional spotlight.

'When I heard the flood had happened, I just couldn't believe it,” she said. 'It's like a flood takes down your memories. It's wonderful to be part of this new beginning here. This is going to have a big effect on generations of kids in Iowa who come to see something here, and it blows their little minds. It blew my little mind.”

Such experiences have 'a big effect on the developing brain,” she said.

While she didn't arrive in time to sign the beam, she left her mark by bringing her artistry home.

'This is my mark today,” she said. She will give two more Club Hancher performances at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday Oct. 9 at The Mill in downtown Iowa City.

Lead design architect Cesar Pelli brought his team from New Haven, Conn., to Wednesday's site ceremony. Surveying the progress on a beautiful fall day, he said, 'I'm delighted. It's coming fantastic. The workmen are great, great.”

And he did, indeed, put his name on the beam. 'Of course, of course,” he said. 'I'm very proud of it.”

'How awesome is this? How incredible of a building we're in right now,” Daniel Mehls, vice president for Mortenson Construction, told the workers dining on the concrete stage in an auditorium that's clearly taking shape.

'All of you are responsible for it. This is a once-in-a career project for most of us.”

To follow Hancher's progress, go to http://hancher.uiowa.edu/construction