HOUSTON BALLET CENTER FOR DANCE

TO OPEN IN SPRING 2011

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In a move designed to propel Houston Ballet to the next phase of its development, the company broke ground on July 15, 2009 on the Center for Dance, a new 115,000 square-foot facility located in downtown Houston at the intersection of Smith and Preston Streets. The building, which will cost $53 million, is set for completion in the spring of 2011. 

The six-story building will boast nine dance studios, a black box dance laboratory for presentations as well as rehearsals, and artistic, administrative and support facilities for Houston Ballet and its Ben Stevenson Academy. The new facility will more than double the space that Houston Ballet has at its current home, located at 1916 West Gray in the River Oaks section of Houston, which the company renovated in 1984 and features six dance studios. 

The new structure, designed by globally-recognized architecture firm Gensler, will be the largest professional dance company facility of its kind constructed in the United States. The Houston Chronicle has observed that the building "could be the most exciting new architecture Houston has seen in decades." (July 31, 2009) Art Gensler, chairman and founder of Gensler, acknowledged  the importance of the project, commenting: "What a privilege it's been to create the new home for Houston Ballet, literally opening a window through the building's design that lets all of Houston see the beauty, talent and passion of Houston Ballet. We are thrilled to be part of this wonderful addition to downtown Houston and its Theatre District."

The co-chairs of the ongoing capital campaign are John C. Bass, Jesse H. Jones II & Anita B. Stude. (Mrs. Stude served as co-chairman of the campaign until her death in July 2009.)  

Richard Maxwell is the project principal. The project manager is Lorrie Foreman of Irvine Team. The general contractor managing the construction is W.S. Bellows Construction Corporation. 

Houston Ballet is America's fourth largest ballet company, an ensemble of 54 dancers with an annual budget of $18 million and an endowment of just over $47 million (as of June, 2010). Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the nation's best ballet companies," Houston Ballet has toured over the last decade to New York, London, Montreal, Hong Kong, Spain, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and to cities large and small across the United States.

Houston Ballet is deeply grateful for the generous philanthropic support received for this project. Please join us as we take Houston Ballet to the next level and make a major impact on the state of the arts in Houston.

For more information about supporting the construction of the new building, please contact Patrice McCracken at 713 535 3232.

For media inquiries about the new Houston Ballet Center for Dance, please contact public relations manager Shauna Tysor at 713 535 3226.