April 30, 2026

A more elegant look with spaces designed to generate additional revenue is ahead for the Orpheum Theater Center.

The city of Sioux Falls will start construction next week within the downtown performing arts complex at 315 N. Phillips Ave.

“That renovation really is the final piece that ties the complete facility together,” said Scott Rust, procurement officer for the city of Sioux Falls, who helped put the project together.

“We’re trying to improve operational efficiency and improve the bottom line by creating new space they can sell.”

That includes expanding on a restoration of the northern most lobby to a new lobby to the south that was added with the city took possession of the facility in the early 2000s.

“The idea is that it will be one contiguous space,” Rust said. “It will be a space to host weddings, dinners, things like that, and it’s going to look really nice.”

Creating the space will involve streamlining a staircase in the center of the building to eliminate a large landing area near the bottom.

“We’re going to cut that way back and free up floor space so we have room to go up to a bar and operate a grab-and-go, and then the ticket office will be reimagined as well,” Rust said.

The same look will carry through upstairs to a balcony.

“It’s not going to look like two separate spaces,” Rust said. “The carpet design in the Orpheum will carry into this newer space and into the (Anne Zabel Actor’s Studio).”

The city already has renovated the building’s classroom area and replaced flooring and lighting. The studio area also will receive paint, lighting and mirrors “so it will be jazzed up to serve all the clients,” Rust said.

There also will be some exteriors improvements to the building happening at the same time, including a mural planned for the north wall. There also will be art inside above the concession area.

“I always look to bring art into these entertainment venues,” Rust said. “It’s not just abbot the actors. It’s about other artists too … and we wanted to create a fun space.”

The Orpheum Theater was built in 1913 and is the oldest theater in Sioux Falls. It originally featured concerts and other shows as a vaudeville house, then was converted into a theater for showing films.

It evolved into the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse. The city of Sioux Falls purchased the theater’s neighboring King of Clubs building in 1994, which had most recently housed the Rainbow Bar and Lime Light Casino. The city then entered into a contract-for-deed agreement with the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse on the building, and construction of a building to link the two began in 1995.

The first restoration of the complex was completed in 2009. It still serves as a home for community theater, now The Premiere Playhouse, as well as many other arts organizations and standalone performances.

Washington Pavilion Management Inc. took over operations for the Orpheum Theater Center in 2019.

“In the last few years, the building has filled up,” president CEO Darrin Smith said. “Our biggest challenge is figuring out who gets what space each night between plays and rehearsals, but the second biggest challenge is the guest experience because the concession and bar are just not set up well to move a few hundred people quickly.”

The newest renovation “is going to be great,” Smith said. “I feel like it’s going to be the culmination.”

The project is “a nice combination of elements to help with our concession and bar sales and guest experience balanced with tying in the historic elements,” he added.

The city received competitive bids for the work, coming in “well under budget” at $777,000, Rust said. It will be funded out of the city’s entertainment tax and be built by Lloyd Construction.

“It was a very competitive bid and a good price to get all that work done,” he said.

The plan is to be done around the end of September.

“It will be quite the building once we’re done,” Rust said. “It’s really going to be nice, and it’s been a fun project.”