Opera Theatre of St. Louis intends to build a new home at the former headquarters of the Caleres shoe company in downtown Clayton.
OTSL put the building under contract to buy it, both organizations announced Monday, though leaders of the opera company say they are just beginning to study key details — including the construction project’s cost and timeline — and can pull out of the purchase agreement without penalty.
If they move forward, their plan would be to raze the building on the site and build a new performing arts center that would be available for Opera Theatre and other performing arts organizations to use.
“This will be by far the largest campaign, the largest fundraising effort that Opera Theater has ever undertaken, and we entered that with awareness and with gratitude for the extraordinary community that surrounds us and with confidence that we can undertake the journey ahead,” said General Director Andrew Jorgensen.
Opera Theatre hasn’t settled on a budget for the plan, how much money the organization would seek to raise in a related capital campaign or what the timeline will be for moving forward.
Though it envisions building a facility with rehearsal and production space in addition to a theater, the organization is still several steps removed from settling on design plans. There could be an update on details in a matter of months, Jorgensen said, though he declined to predict the project will pass key milestones this year.
Opera Theatre is in a position to make big moves in part because it received the largest donation in its history five years ago — a $45 million bequest by philanthropist and OTSL board member Phyllis Brissenden that more than doubled the organization’s endowment.
The final step of the planning process for a new performing arts center would be to work with Clayton’s municipal leadership on construction plans.
“I have no doubt that the Clayton community will embrace this vision of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. The addition of a performing arts center has long been a priority for residents and city leaders," Mayor Michelle Harris said in a statement.
Opera Theatre launches its 50th season in May. Its home has been Webster University, where it rehearses and performs at the Loretto-Hilton Center and patrons often picnic and have preshow drinks at an adjacent grassy area. OTSL produced shows on a temporary stage in a nearby parking lot during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Loretto-Hilton Center has a smaller orchestra pit than some venues that present professional opera, limiting OTSL’s ability to coproduce new productions with other organizations or to present touring shows, Jorgenson said — and the acoustics there are “famously bad.”
“We wouldn't be the company we are without that incredible partnership,” Jorgenson said of the relationship with Webster University. “At the same time, that theater was never designed to do what an opera company asks it to do. So we've been talking for years and years and years about a dream of a space that would really be bespoke for what we need to do, and that would elevate our work in a different way. And so now we're taking a major step forward to realize that dream.”
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis also uses the Loretto-Hilton Center as its main stage. OTSL has been in touch with multiple arts organizations about the possible use of a new facility in Clayton, Jorgenson said.
