Adolfson and Peterson Construction announced Monday it broke ground on Estrella Mountain Community College’s new performing arts center. The $9.7M center is a 30,000 SF free standing fine arts space at the heart of the campus. Orcutt Winslow designed the building, developed by the Maricopa County Community College District. The new building will serve as a bookend to the student mall at the center of the campus master plan. In addition to the 300-seat performance area with professional style crossover orchestra pit and pit lift platform, the state-of-the-art building features a comprehensive performing arts support space including – black box performance studio complete with pipe grid and theatrical accessories including digital projection; dance studio with premium Marley dance surfacing; costume design and fabrication lab; tech lab for digital audio, video and digital scene production; performer support areas and dressing rooms; backstage support space and scene shop for complete theatrical production, scenery construction, and stagecraft. Construction is expected to wrap up in November 2014.