New Jersey Symphony will have a new home and performance space, in Jersey City

An artist’s rendering of the new New Jersey Symphony performance space in Jersey City.

After more than a century, New Jersey Symphony will finally have a home of its own, with the creation of its headquarters and a 550-seat performing arts venue in Jersey City’s downtown Powerhouse Arts District.

Slated to open Spring 2026, the state-of-the-art facility will be the first permanent base for the symphony in its 102-year history. The 44,000-square-foot space, named The Symphony Center, will include administrative offices and a performance hall, and will also host activities with local artists and students, expanding the symphony’s artistic, education and community reach into Hudson County.

On Aug. 21, energetic music filled Provost Square, a pedestrian-friendly plaza with restored cobblestones, for the landmark announcement. A quintet of symphony brass musicians played Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” in a lively arrangement. The ceremony culminated with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between symphony president and CEO Gabriel van Aalst and Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop, to solidify the partnership and the major construction.

Fulop expressed hope that the symphony’s presence will complement the artistic and cultural aspects of the city and Hudson County. “This new endeavor will enhance our economic and cultural landscape and, more importantly, offer unparalleled opportunities to our residents and community,” he said.

An artist’s rendering of the exterior of the Jersey City building.

Located at the corner of Provost and Morgan streets, the center is part of a larger Provost Square project being developed by the Toll Brothers company to enrich and enliven the Powerhouse Arts District’s lively restaurant and retail scene, close to the waterfront.

The symphony’s expansion into Jersey City is being made possible by the gift of a venue by the City of Jersey City. The price tag is close to $50 million, of which the city and Toll Brothers is providing around $40 million, and the symphony, the remainder. Funding for the interior design and improvements to the theater space will draw from public and private philanthropic support.

The venue will stand on the site of a former Manischewitz matzo factory. Prior to that, the land belonged to the Lenape people. It is one and a half blocks from the Grove Street PATH station.

Over the past 15 years, the district has evolved from old warehouses to cultural and arts organizations, many of which require spaces set aside for affordable artist housing and performing arts locations. Within a two-block radius of the symphony’s new headquarters are The Nimbus Arts Center and Art House Productions.

Fulop said the “win-win” partnership with the symphony reflected the city’s deep commitment to the arts, and will help it reach new artistic heights.

“This historic moment has been in the work for about two years since Mayor Fulop said to me, ‘I think the symphony should move to Jersey City and take over the Toll Brothers’ theater’ — 16 words that changed the symphony’s trajectory forever,” van Aalst said.

Van Aalst, a Jersey City resident, joined the symphony in 2016. In June, he announced that he will leave in September to become president and CEO of Dayton Live, which hosts and presents performing arts in Miami Valley, Ohio. Craig Silliman, co-chair of the New Jersey Symphony Board of Trustees, will step in as interim president and chief executive while the board searches for van Aalst’s successor.

The building’s infrastructure and construction phases have been completed, and interior fittings are being customized. In early 2025, approximately 40 staff members who run the symphony’s operations and education programs will move out of leased administration offices at 60 Park Place in Newark, a couple of blocks from NJPAC.

The symphony will continue to play mainstage concerts at all its current venues, and maintain a presence in Newark through education programs for the surrounding Essex County communities. The soft opening of the new venue will be in Spring 2026, followed by a formal opening that summer.

Attendees of the press conference were invited inside the new building to tour the lobby, a side gallery and the performance hall. The lobby is shallow and features an open design. Nothing feels walled-off. “The idea was to create something flexible and offers as many options as possible, for both audiences and musicians, which allows community participation,” van Aalst said.

For example, the lobby gallery — gray and white with brushed silver finishings, though final touches are yet to come — features floor-to-ceiling glass windows to allow pedestrians to see what the performers are doing. It will be used mainly for educational activities and performances. “The education component and inspiring young people with music and art is at the core of what we’re trying to do here,” said Fulop.

Van Aalst anticipates a shift in the symphony’s programming to become more multidisciplinary in the coming decades, and the venue’s adjustable performances spaces are designed to handle it all. This means the theater will be highly customizable depending on the needs of the repertoire, without a fixed stage or fixed seating.

For instance, seating (yet to be placed in the performance hall) will be in a retractable, sliding format to allow many different layouts, including an immersive “in the round” experience. The 550-seat size is fairly intimate compared to NJPAC’s Prudential Hall with 2,800.

An artist’s rendering of a banquet that could be held in the Jersey City building.

For setups that require full use of the room — rehearsals, galas and corporate functions — seats can retract into the wall. The design firm DLR Group will iron out the acoustical and logistical details in the coming months.

The second floor will be devoted to dressing rooms, practice rooms and a music library. There also will be a dedicated area for the musicians with lockers and dressing rooms. The symphony employs 66 full-time musicians and also contracts with union musicians and stagehands as needed for additional program and community support.

The Symphony Center is just one of many recent and upcoming multi-million dollar renovations for concert halls around the country. As classical music and opera venues shuttered and pivoted to virtual and alternative spaces during the pandemic’s downtime, many historic venues were restored, while others were built from the ground up.

The unprecedented moment also allowed orchestras to step back and rethink their roles. For the symphony, the partnership gives them the opportunity to “reimagine, reframe, and reinvent the way that the symphony serves our community,” said van Aalst.

“This performance space, this home, will allow us to become a place maker, and put the communities of New Jersey and their needs first, thereby fulfilling our music director Xian Zhang’s vision that the New Jersey Symphony orchestra should be an orchestra of and for the 21st century.”

For Xian, entering her ninth season with a contract extension through 2028, this means inclusive and wide-ranging programming, and robust educational and community outreach programs.

“The symphony is so excited about coming to Jersey City and finally having a home after 100 years,” van Aalst said. “This institution deserves it, this community deserves it, and I can’t wait to see the impact on the city and the symphony for years to come.”