Coming Soon to Jersey City: A Gleaming Home for the Symphony

The New Jersey Symphony, which long lacked a permanent space, will move into a 550-seat theater that it hopes to make a hub for concerts and classes.

The New Jersey Symphony has long lacked a permanent home, performing in a variety of spaces across the state. But come 2026, that will change: The orchestra is getting a gleaming 550-seat theater in downtown Jersey City, the ensemble and the city announced on Wednesday.

The new theater, to be called Symphony Center, is expected to become a hub for concerts, classes and other activities. While the New Jersey Symphony will continue to perform across the state, the theater will serve as its flagship location.

“We’ve always been in someone else’s house,” said Gabriel van Aalst, the orchestra’s president and chief executive. “This not only gives us an emotional home, but the opportunity to reinvent, re-explore and re-examine our business model, and to look at ways to set the orchestra up for the future.”

The project is a coup for the New Jersey Symphony, which, like many arts organizations, is still grappling with the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the orchestra announced it was trimming its season and cutting its administrative staff by about 15 percent. To keep up with rising costs, the orchestra has dipped into its endowment: The fund is now valued at about $3 million, down from about $9 million in 2019.

Symphony Center was recently constructed for about $40 million, as part of a luxury housing development by the home builder Toll Brothers. The space is owned by Jersey City, which will allow the symphony to use it under an initial 30-year lease agreement. The symphony plans to raise an additional $12 million to furnish the space and fine-tune its acoustics.

Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, said the theater was part of the city’s efforts to become a cultural destination. He said it would help elevate the symphony’s profile and bring tens of thousands of people downtown each year.