Silverdale Baptist Academy announced groundbreaking for The Silverdale Center will be Thursday from noon-1 p.m. on the campus on Bonny Oaks Drive.
Officials said, "After nearly two years of planning and fundraising, we are eager to break ground and begin construction on this $8.9 million facility.
The Silverdale Center will feature dedicated spaces for both our performing arts and athletic departments, as well as classroom space for our gender-based 6th-grade classes.
"With its orchestra pit, full fly space, dressing rooms, and expansive audio/visual capabilities, the Creekside Theatre will hold nearly 650 guests and provide a proper venue for theatre productions, concerts, recitals, guest lectures, chapels, worship services, and more. Supporting the Creekside Theatre is a more intimate black box theatre, proper rehearsal space for band, orchestra, and choir, a dance studio, and individual studio spaces for private instruction or personal practice time.
"The gymnasium will provide seating for 1,000 fans split between both sides of the court, and collapsible bleachers will allow dual cross-court play for both basketball and volleyball. Supporting the gym are spacious home locker rooms for our men’s and women’s teams, a weight room, dedicated space for an athletic trainer, and a concession stand to service the large crowds.
"Upstairs, The Silverdale Center will house five classrooms for our gender-based 6th-grade program, giving this critical point of transition a physical place to call home. Also upstairs will be the individual studio spaces we mentioned before, as well as the control room for all-things production-related going on in The Creekside Theatre.
"We have been blessed by the outpouring of generosity from the greater Silverdale community as we endeavored to take on this God-sized project. We are thankful to Rardin & Carroll Architects for both their design work and project guidance and look forward to working with J&J Contractors of Chattanooga as the project is slated to begin immediately following groundbreaking."