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A public groundbreaking ceremony for the new cultural arts facility is scheduled for Wednesday, November 1 at 3:00 p.m. at the future site of the building (1955 West 7800 South, across the street from the old West Jordan library). The November date comes as a surprise, as West Jordan Mayor Kim Rolfe had announced only a week earlier that groundbreaking would take place “sometime in December.”
The new date is certainly welcome by the West Jordan Theater Arts board, who have been making due with makeshift venues like City Hall, the West Jordan Rodeo Arena, various local schools, and Pioneer Hall while waiting for a new, permanent home since the converted West Jordan sugar factory was demolished in 2010.
In a post to its official Facebook page Wednesday, West Jordan City Hall announced that the 20,000 square-foot facility will occupy 2.85 acres of Veterans Memorial Park and will feature a 300-seat theater, an art gallery, multi-purpose rooms, and a concessions space. In comparison, Pioneer Hall, which Sugar Factory Playhouse has used frequently for spring and fall plays, can seat a maximum of about 100 people, which means the new facility will seat about three times Pioneer Hall’s capacity.
The lobby of the new cultural arts facility will open into a west-facing plaza and a sculpture garden, which City Hall stated in the Facebook post will be used for art exhibits and outdoor events.
City Hall also specified that the $9.2 million-dollar facility will be paid for with $3 million from the city (authorized by the City Council in April 2015), proceeds from the sale of some city-owned property (including the old West Jordan library, with Sugar Factory currently uses as a rehearsal and storage space), and the Salt Lake County Cultural Facilities Support Program.
In addition to Mayor Kim Rolfe and members of the West Jordan City Council, representatives from various West Jordan arts organizations and other local officials will be in attendance as ground is officially broken for the arts facility that Sugar Factory Playhouse will share with other groups, such as the West Jordan Youth Theatre, the Mountain West Chorale, and others. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.
The cultural arts facility is scheduled to open in spring 2019.
[This article has been updated to list the correct address of the construction site.]