Pace finishes $200 million performing arts center at One Pace Plaza, backed by $175 million in state support

Pace University has finished rebuilding the base of its Lower Manhattan flagship into a new home for its performing arts school, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Thursday. The $200 million renovation of the podium of One Pace Plaza covers about 185,000 square feet in the building's east wing. It gives the Sands College of Performing Arts performance venues, rehearsal rooms, studios and student space under one roof.

The state is covering most of the cost: about $175.4 million in all, the governor's office said. That includes $140.4 million in bonds issued through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, a $25 million Empire State Development special appropriation, $5.5 million from the Community Resiliency, Economic Sustainability and Technology program, and a $3 million Pro-Housing Communities grant for furniture and equipment awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council.

What's inside

According to Pace, the building has three theaters:

• Schimmel Theater: a 427-seat proscenium house with a full-size stage and fly system, meant for large-cast musicals and dance.
• BlackBox Theater: a double-height flexible space seating 142 to 200, with catwalks and movable platforms.
• Garden Theater: a 60- to 82-seat black box with one wall that partially opens onto the One Pace Plaza courtyard.

There are also a 3,600-square-foot scene and prop shop, a 3,300-square-foot costume shop, rehearsal and dance studios, and an animation studio, Pace says. The university's Maria's Tower residence hall, in the main tower above, reopens this fall with room for more than 500 students on floors 7 through 18.

Jobs and enrollment

Pace expects the expansion to add 26 full-time and 85 part-time faculty and staff positions, and projects enrollment at Sands College to grow by more than 75% by fiscal 2030, the governor's office said. The renovation also adds water-source heat pumps and other electrification work meant to cut the building's steam and fossil fuel use. Pace says its downtown campus serves about 10,000 people a day.

The building is already in use: a floor-by-floor guide Pace published in late August declared One Pace Plaza East officially open to students.