Philadelphia Ballet’s new N. Broad St. building is becoming a reality
Following two groundbreakings, now there is physical evidence that the company's new building is finally taking shape.
The caissons are nestled deep beneath the ground, a foundation has been laid, and the outline of Philadelphia Ballet’s new building is now staking out a presence on North Broad Street.
Wednesday at the building’s construction site, ballet leaders, dancers, and other dignitaries signed their names on a steel beam and then watched it get hoisted into place atop the bare frame of what will become the company’s new five-story, 43,000-square-foot dance center on Broad near Callowhill.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a very long time,” said ballet artistic director Angel Corella before the topping-out ceremony. “The school will have more space to develop and grow. The company will have more space. I am doing rehearsals now for Boléro and the dancers literally don’t fit in the studio.”
The building project had been elusive — about a decade in the dreaming stage, in fact. Even after a groundbreaking in September 2022, construction did not commence for nearly two years while the ballet company worked to nail down a bridge loan, after which a second groundbreaking ceremony was held last May.
But now there is physical evidence that the project is really happening. This week you could see gaping expanses between steel beams where, by early next year, rehearsal studios, a black box studio, offices, and public spaces will be populated by dancers, students, and balletomanes.
Ballet executive director Shelly Power is eager for floors to be poured so she can start bringing current and potential supporters through the construction site.
“A lot of the donors have not seen the progress we’ve made,” she said. “There will be a campaign refresh because people will actually see what’s happening and we can show them all the different naming opportunities,” Power said.
Among aspects of the building yet to be named: the building itself.
Power said she expects the new structure, designed by Philadelphia architecture firm Varenhorst, to be complete and ready for move-in by late January or early February. Then, the ballet’s current building, farther back from Broad Street on the same site, will undergo several months of renovations and be joined to the new structure.
After a soft opening in May 2026, the company expects to hold a more public opening the following September.
The total construction cost has not risen since the May 2024 groundbreaking, Power said; it is still $37.5 million. Fundraising has reaped $3.3 million in those 10 months, with $29.6 million now promised and in hand — almost 80% of the total needed.
Even if the stock market has turned bearish in recent weeks, Power said she felt bullish about fundraising for the building campaign as well as an additional $5 million the company is seeking for endowment.
“Loyalty and support still remains strong,” she said.