St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Dumbo-based theater best known for presenting work from the Wooster Group and other downtown favorites, has been conditionally designated by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to become the primary tenant of the Tobacco Warehouse, located across the street from the theater’s current home.
Last year St. Ann’s began a search for a new space after the New York City Council approved a development project for Dumbo that would turn the 14,000-square-foot theater into an apartment complex and middle school. The announcement of the move was made on Thursday by St. Ann’s and Brooklyn Bridge Park, a nonprofit organization responsible for the 85-acre waterfront park along the East River shoreline.
Susan Feldman, the artistic director of St. Ann’s, said in a phone interview that the theater wants to turn the Tobacco Warehouse, a Civil War-era structure in the Empire Fulton Ferry section of Brooklyn Bridge Park, into a community-usage space.
Plans call for two performance spaces: a 10,000-square-foot theater that could accommodate an audience of up to 700 and a 2,100-square-foot space that could accommodate a maximum of 125. A triangular section of the structure would remain mostly uncovered, to be served by a park concession and open for public use during park hours. The remainder of the proposed facility, which was designed by H3 Hardy Collaborative Architecture, includes a 2,500-square-foot lobby, public restrooms and performance support space.
“I feel humble about it, and I feel responsible,” said Ms. Feldman. “I think we’ll do a great job. We’re the right organization because I think we’ll be sensitive to the preservation issues for that building. I think it will feel very integrated into that park.”
Ms. Feldman said the new facility was scheduled to open in the winter of 2013. She did not expect a break in programming as the theater moved out of its space and into the renovated warehouse. If St. Ann’s finds itself between homes, Ms. Feldman said she would consider renting space from other arts organizations, such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, or schedule more shows outdoors.
Renovations to the warehouse will be extensive. Engineers still have to assess the structural safety of the space, which has a redesign budget of about $15 million.
“It’s vulnerable,” she said. “It’s got no roof. It’s subject to graffiti. It needs to be propped up in the archways.”
The theater’s move was “an important moment for the city,” said Ms. Feldman, who likened it to the Public Theater’s being given the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
“Brooklyn will have a cultural center on the waterfront,” she said. “These things don’t happen that often.”
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