A request for proposals (RFP) will be issued later this month to architects who have been short-listed for the downtown St Catharines arts complex.

The Joint Executive Committee overseeing the development of the Academic and Cultural Arts Centre agreed at its meeting Wednesday to issue the RFP on Nov. 17.

The arts complex is a co-operative enterprise between Brock University and the City of St. Catharines. Brock will make the site the new home of its Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, while the City will build a civic performing arts centre adjacent to the school.

The architects, short-listed by the committee last month, will have until Dec. 17 to submit their proposals. The firms are:

• Diamond & Schmitt Architects Incorporated (Toronto)
• Diller Scofidio + Renfro/RDH Architects Inc. (New York)
• Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (Toronto)
• Moriyama & Teshima Architects (Toronto)/Pfeiffer Partners Architects PC (Los Angeles)
• Saucier + Perrotte Architects/Stantec (Montreal)

Once received, the proposals will be evaluated by the City and Brock, followed by recommendations to City Council and the University’s Board of Trustees.

Meanwhile, PRISMPartners, the project manager hired by Brock and the City to guide the progress of the joint academic and cultural arts centre, is setting up shop in downtown St. Catharines.

Staff from the Toronto-based company will move into the former Lincoln County Courthouse at James and King streets.

The move, expected for this month, will put PRISM staff in close proximity to the project and its partners as work continues on the arts complex.