BRIEFS : Architect Hired to Design Municipal Arts Center

The Huntington Beach City Council has taken the first step toward turning an industrial space at 538 Main St. into a Municipal Arts Center.

Thirtieth Street Architects Inc. of Newport Beach were hired this week to prepare a conceptual design, budgeted at $14,700, for the 11,000-square-foot building, formerly occupied by Southern California Edison.

The rehabilitation itself is expected to cost $300,000. The center, containing a 4,500-square-foot art gallery, a multipurpose room, studio or classroom space and offices, is slated to open in January, 1991.

With ceilings as high as 16 feet, the space has a pared-down “industrial” look just right for a gallery, according to the city’s cultural affairs supervisor, Naida Osline. The arts center project will be part of a downtown cultural area encompassing a library and, possibly, a plaza for outdoor arts events.