#2 Green Space on the Arts Plaza

Things to love about the new Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Bring a snack, grab a table and pull up one of more than 300 silver bistro-style chairs, much like the signature green folding chairs scattered around New York’s Bryant Park. With its 16,000 square feet of Bermuda grass lawn, two dozen towering date palms, and grove of 22 elm trees, the Seneff Arts Plaza that fronts the Dr. Phillips Center is a welcome mat like no other. Concerts and a broad spectrum of shows and events will find a home at this outdoor community venue “where life is celebrated as it’s related to the arts,” says Chuck Bell, principal at Baker Barrios design firm, which planned the plaza. Walkways flow with urbanized plank pavers in graduated grays, and the “family room floor” beneath the elms of the plaza’s west-side area is a softer, cooler, Florida-inspired coquina-shell surface. Umbrellas shade many of the plaza’s 64 tables, and a theatrical fountain is on tap for the center’s Phase 2 build-out.

An arts center open house for the community is set for Nov. 8-9. For details about opening events and shows, go to drphillipscenter.org.