Avant-garde theater company St. Ann’s Warehouse has kicked off the conversion of a 19th-century tobacco factory in Brooklyn Bridge Park into its first permanent home.
The city is donating $10 million toward the $27 million project; private contributions are funding another $11 million of the costs. The 3,750-square-foot lobby will offer access to a side courtyard and the park. A long corridor will go from the front to the back of the warehouse, which will stretch 18,000 square feet, as previously reported.
Rogers Marvel Architects is serving as the architect on record while Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates is designing a garden courtyard.
The troupe has used the 27,500-square-foot property as temporary housing for 13 years.
Despite ongoing opposition from community groups over its planned public use, the city approved the conversion in May on the condition that 38,000 square feet – previously used for municipal parking and storage — will be added to the park. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer