NEWPORT – The nonprofit Island Moving Company, a contemporary ballet company in Newport, recently announced that it purchased the former George H. Triplett School property from the city for $900,000, with plans to use the site for housing and for the organization’s new Center for Arts, Dance & Education.
IMC said it will develop its long-planned, two-story arts center in the front of the site on the 435 Broadway property and will demolish the former school building. The IMC Center for Arts, Dance & Education building will be 14,000 square feet, including a partially finished basement, the organization said.
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IMC said the property transaction is the result of a “unique” public-private partnership, and as part of its agreement with the city, the nonprofit will pay annual property taxes on the parcel. The property was most recently valued by Newport assessors in fiscal 2022 as being worth $3.97 million, according to the city’s online property tax evaluation database.
After buying 435 Broadway, IMC said it transferred one half of the 1.55-acre site to private real estate developer Teri Degnan, who will build four single-family homes in the rear of the former school property.
The ballet company, which was founded in 1982, said it now employs 13 professional dancers and enrolls more than 200 students weekly in its pre-professional school, called The Newport Academy of Ballet. The group said it is currently based at 3 Charles St., at the corner of Washington Square.
The former elementary school building, which was named after a longtime supporter of Aquidneck Island athletics who chaired the Newport School Committee, was decommissioned by the city in 2013. The former school was built in 1960 in what was originally constructed as a residential property in 1900, according to city records.
IMC said it had long planned to move forward with plans to buy the property, demolish the former school building and develop the new center. But the organization said its plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
IMC said it originally reached a purchase and sales agreement with the city in the summer of 2018, while pre-development design and site engineering was completed two years after that. Ultimately, IMC said the project won unanimous approval when it went before city boards in late 2021, allowing the company to finalize the purchase on Dec. 1 this year.
When completed, IMC said the new building will house its professional company of dancers, administrative offices, costume and production departments, and expanded facilities and studios for the organization’s pre-professional school. The center would also include a “flexible performance space with seating for 180 patrons.”
IMC said the new center will also feature a community green space, or pocket park, facing Broadway, and there will be a dedicated bus stop, along with 39 off-street parking spots.
IMC said its project partners include FJS Associates Ltd., Newport Collaborative Architects, Northeast Engineers, Verde Design & Horticulture, and J2 Construct Inc. The group didn’t announce a new timeline for construction, after originally targeting spring 2023 to open the new center when the project reached city boards last year.
“As Newport’s resident, professional, contemporary ballet company, we couldn’t be more excited by the opportunity to build an appropriately outfitted space to provide our community with the highest-quality dance performance and education programs for the people of Newport County and across Rhode Island,” said Peter Bramante, IMC’s executive director.
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer.
