Richland School District Two in Columbia, S.C., is preparing to break ground on a $24 million performing arts center.

The Charleston Post and Courier reports that the 55,000-square-foot site will be anchored by a 1,175-seat auditorium. It will be built on the district's Innovation Center campus.

Within the 27,000-student Richland Two district, cultural programming is popular — 81% of pupils take part in some type of arts education. The center was included as part of a 2018 voter-approved bond referendum to spend $84 million on upgrades to arts and athletics sites.

It will be several years until the center opens, but once it does several other issues will be solved as well, Superintendent Baron Davis says.

Right now, Richland Northeast High School serves as the district’s primary auditorium, which limits its availability for students there to host their own performances.

“It will be a facility that the public will have access to," Davis says. "The idea was to try and create a space not only for our students but also solve a couple of other problems."

The architect for the center is McMillan Pazdan Smith.