ORONO (AP) – The costs of renovating and upgrading the former Maine Center for the Arts at the University of Maine have exceeded the original 2004 estimate of $10 million, prompting stepped-up fundraising efforts.

Richard McDonald, the center’s advisory board president, said an additional $6 million is needed to complete phase two of the project and center supporters are trying to raise money so that both phases can be completed at the same time.

“If we can do this all at once it is obviously going to cost less,” McDonald said. “If we don’t do it now, I would say it’s going to be $1 million to $2 million more than it would doing it today.”

McDonald attributed the higher price tag to increased costs for construction materials and surprises in the original building’s construction that complicated the work.

“We didn’t have a complete set of plans as to how the building was actually built,” McDonald said. “We had to do some discovery.”

The first phase of the upgrade is under way and plans call for the entire project to be completed by early next year.

The facility was renamed last August as the Richard R. and Anne A. Collins Center for the Arts, in honor of the University of Maine alumni who donated $5 million for the project.

Built in 1986, the center has more than 150 events a year, including performances by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, touring musicians and theater and dance groups.

The first phase will put the facility in compliance with federal disability standards and integrate the Hudson Museum in the center. The museum component, which houses a collection of pre-Columbian artifacts, has been tucked into hallways, galleries and lobbies that are roped off during events and performances.

“(Nationally) they’re now starting to combine museums and performing arts centers together to give a cultural linkage to the two types of art,” McDonald said. “It’s now going to be sort of in symmetry of the entire building. That’s a huge, huge benefit.”

Phase two includes upgrade for stage and renovation to backstage areas that McDonald said would attract more prominent performers and increase the center’s commercial viability.

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