Taproot Theatre’s expansion is coming along, as crews get the site ready for the modular construction building to be installed sometime this summer.
The back side of Taproot Theatre’s existing building is on the right.
Taproot’s Producing Artistic Director, Scott Nolte, tells me the plan is for the new building to be finished in late summer. With modular construction, the building components are completed offsite, then installation and finish work takes about four to six weeks.
The expansion takes the place of the former Eleanor Roosevelt Building, which housed four restaurants and burned in the Oct. 23, 2009, arson. The new building will include a second theater, dressing rooms, offices, scene workshop and a café and wine bar at 208 N. 85th Street.
If you’re wondering about the huge mural that was installed along the construction fence two months after the arson, Nolte said it is currently in storage, waiting for someone to come forward with a new site for it. Nolte said the mural would likely need to be touched up by the artists first.
The mural used to cover most of the length of the construction fence.
