BETHEL, N.Y. (AP) - This is the dawning of the age of construction at the 1969 Woodstock concert site.

Gov. George Pataki and developer Alan Gerry appeared at Max Yasgur's old farm Tuesday to announce plans for a $40 million performing arts and music center at the festival site. The center, to be completed by 2003, will have a mix of covered and lawn seating.

``The original Woodstock concert was a historic event that continues to draw thousands of annual pilgrims looking to recapture a piece of its magic,'' Pataki said. ``Its organizers found what was then, and remains today, the perfect location for entertainment and hospitality.''

The arts center would be the first permanent structure erected on the hillside 80 miles north of New York City since the famed ``three days of peace, love & music'' in August 1969.

Gerry, 71, a lifelong resident of the area who built his television antenna business into one of the largest cable television operations in the nation, bought the 37-acre concert site and surrounding land a few years ago. He created the not-for-profit Gerry Foundation to help develop the site and help the area's ailing economy.

The new center is to hold dance, theater and music performances in a 4,000-seat indoor theater, which could partly open to accommodate another 15,000 spectators on the back lawn.

``It's not something for a narrow segment of people,'' Gerry said. ``It's going to be for all the people.''

Under the plan, the Gerry Foundation will contribute $16 million and the state will add $15 million. The Gerry Foundation will make up the remaining $9 million through endowments and private contributions.

The state will have no ownership of the project.

AP-NY-08-29-00 1634EDT
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.