AUSTIN, Texas, June 21 (UPI) -- "Austin City Limits" producer Terry Lickona says seeing the future home of the U.S. TV series in Austin, Texas, was a "heart-stopping" moment.
Lickona, who has served as the PBS series' producer for 31 years, said he was thrilled to be standing on the spot where the show's stage will eventually be in Austin's W Hotel complex, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Sunday.
"It was heart-stopping," Lickona said of his site visit last week. "I've been looking at drawings for two years, so to finally see the space in person was like watching this next chapter of 'Austin City Limits' beginning to unfold. I could see the possibilities."
The nearly $40 million Austin City Limits Theater will help the series increase its current audience size of 320 at the University of Texas-Austin to 2,750.
Beau Armstrong of Stratus Properties told the American-Statesman the construction is expected to be completed by October 2010.
"There won't be another venue like this anywhere," Lickona said. "We're going to marry a state-of-the-art concert hall with a high definition production studio."
