Philadelphia Ballet headquarters project delayed

Nearly a year after a ceremonial groundbreaking for Philadelphia Ballet’s new headquarters on North Broad Street, no actual ground has been broken and construction has yet to begin.

The project has been set back by various factors pertaining to financing, the ballet says, though the long-planned addition to the company’s existing facilities remains a go.

“We’ve been working diligently and are still 100% committed to the building happening,” says ballet executive director Shelly Power. “It’s so important to the organization, and we feel it’s going to leverage all of our strategic goals for the school, the company, and for continuing to build new audiences.”

Dancers, ballet leaders, philanthropists, and government leaders gathered at the site on Broad Street near Callowhill on Sept. 29 to mark the groundbreaking. Construction was expected to begin shortly thereafter with the five-story, 43,000-square-foot addition opening in the spring of 2024.

But the ballet hit delays on multiple fronts, Power says.

“Things are just taking longer — underwriting, material and labor, financing. We’re working closely with all our partners and we’re … moving forward,” she says. “We just need to be a bit more patient.”

The price tag for the project has inched up — to $37.5 million from the $34 million estimate a year ago, and it could change again. “This fluctuates depending on when everything falls into place, the cost of goods and labor and all that,” says Power.

Power says she now hopes construction can begin in October, which would mean an opening in April 2025. The ballet currently occupies studios and offices in a building set back from Broad Street, and the expansion would give the company a street-front presence on North Broad Street with offices, a new black box theater, public spaces, and a glassed-in dance studio on the top floor. The addition would more than triple the square footage the ballet now has.

Fundraising has continued. At groundbreaking, the company had raised nearly $21.8 million, and now, about a year later, the number has reached almost $26.3 million.

The ballet is seeking the rest of the money from private donors and foundations, “and hopefully we’ll be blessed with more state funding. That would be extremely helpful,” Power says.

So far, the project has received $5.2 million through the commonwealth’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

The goal is to put up the building without incurring any long-term debt, “but we are planning for all scenarios.”

Power expects that putting an actual — and not just a ceremonial — shovel in the ground will help to fire up more donations.

“Once they see the building being built, people will be motivated.”