A $15.6 million dance studio and performance space would be constructed in Washington Park through a City-owned land write-down proposed to City Council today by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Consisting of .54 acres and located at 5339-45 S. State St., the two parcels of land would be sold to Deeply Rooted Dance Theater for $1 each for the construction of the 33,270-square-foot Deeply Rooted Dance Center. The lots’ combined value was recently appraised at approximately $260,000.

Planned as a state-of-the-art home for Black dance, the two-story building will include dance studios and performance spaces on the ground floor and a classroom, office, and conference room on the second floor.

Established in 1996, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater reimagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, classical, American, and African American traditions in dance and storytelling. The company currently shares facilities with Ballet Chicago in the Loop.

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