Fairfax will assume $30 million in debt owed by arts center at the old Lorton prison "The fact is, if this deal was not made today, the bank was going to foreclose on that loan this month," Supervisor John Cook (Braddock) said before a 9-1 vote on the matter. Had this loan gone into default there would have been litigation and the county would have been drawn into that litigation. After the arts foundation renovated the century-old prison that had become a symbolic eyesore for the Lorton community, the center where Mikhail Baryshnikov once danced at a black-tie gala became immersed in poor management, then problems in raising donation money that were exacerbated by the effects of the 2008 recession. After the first phase of the renovation were completed, plans for artists" residences, restaurants, a museum, a music barn and a performing arts center never materialized. Even so, the remotely located center served as somewhat of a cultural magnet in the county's southern section, with film festivals, holiday performances and lessons in cooking and Pilates. "I have personally attended many successful workshops, fundraisers and events at the Workhouse, most notably Fairfax County's annual SpringFest, an event that drew thousands of people in celebration of Earth Day/Arbor Day," board chairman Sharon Bulova said in a statement. But the financially strapped center remained a lingering headache for the county, which over the years agreed to help with the foundation debt and make other improvements - to a total of $16 million, officials said. Before they voted, the supervisors took turns heaping criticism on the center for what they said were overly ambitious plans that were poorly executed. Then they agreed that a complete failure now would be an even deeper embarrassment. "The worst thing we can do at this point in time is let the Lorton Arts Center fall down after we invested $16 million in it," said Supervisor Jeff McKay (Lee.) The worst we can do is Band-Aid the Lorton Arts Center as they hobble through another year. Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield) was the lone dissenting vote on the board, saying the deal amounted to bailing out Wells Fargo after it made a bad loan in the first place. "This isn't about Lorton Arts, or the arts in general," Herrity said. "This is about spending $30 million of taxpayers" money to pay off a debt that we have no legal obligation to pay. Instead we should be monetizing the surrounding land to help ensure the long-term success of Lorton Arts, as I have been proposing for over a year. Supervisor Michael Frey agreed that more needs to be done to make the center a success , and suggested that more headaches could lie ahead. "Where we are now, probably none of us really want to be here," he said. We've got a long ways to go. We never wanted to be in the business of running an arts center. We got a lot of work to do to try to get it right. We have several years of continued economic uncertainty where we don't know what's going to happen.