[SCVnews.com] – Local high school officials cut the ribbon Thursday to the new 452-seat, 18,560-square-foot Performing Arts Center at Canyon High.

A comparable theater building at Saugus High is in the final stages of planning and approval.

Raucous applause greeted Canyon choir director Mary Purdy as she came to the podium. She said she had 15 years left in her teaching career when she first became involved in planning and promoting the long-awaited theater; now she’s a year away from retirement. Purdy, who has documented construction each week photographically, then took a selfie in front of the building.

Addressing choir and band members and drama students, Hart School Board Member Steve Sturgeon said the new theater is a place where they’d make memories to last a lifetime, and he thanked the taxpayers for approving the Measure SA construction bond that made the $13.8 million facility possible.

CANYON P.A.C. FACT SHEET (Source: Hart District)

Total cost: $13,836,866

Facility square footage: 18,560

Construction began: Sept. 2, 2014

Seats: 452

Seat vents (HVAC): 217

Proscenium wall: 55 feet

Proscenium opening: 18 feet

Concrete poured: approx. 2,000 yards

Largest concrete pour: 330 yards in 4 hours

CMU blocks: 39,370

Grout: 833 yards

Lost time due to injury: ZERO (65,862 work hours)

Rainwater pumped out: 40,000 gallons (subsequently recycled to water practice fields)