$10 Million Renovation Campaign Announced for The Palladium Theater
RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27, 2023
Contact: Paul Wilborn, Executive Director,
Wilborn.Paul@spcollege.edu, 727.302.6870
$10 Million Renovation Campaign Announced for The Palladium Theater
St. Petersburg, FL: The Palladium Theater proudly unveiled its $10 million renovation campaign, “Strengthen. Elevate. Inspire.” during a 25th Anniversary Celebration on October 25. Addressing the growing needs of Tampa Bay, the expansion will include a fully renovated mainstage theater and Stage Door cabaret. Groundbreaking is projected to begin in the summer of 2025 and be completed for the building’s 100th anniversary in 2026.
During the celebration, Palladium Executive Director Paul Wilborn announced a challenge grant of $5 million from the Hough Family Foundation. The Hough family was instrumental in founding the Palladium and has been supportive over our 25 years.
"The Hough Family Foundation is very excited about the plans to renovate the Palladium. Our parents, Bill and Hazel Hough, were involved in founding it, and instrumental in establishing it with St. Petersburg College. They loved the Palladium, attended regularly through the years, and described it as being very close to their hearts. Our Foundation is honored to be a part of the renovation of this beloved community theater that is second to none. We invite you to join all the Founders and other supporters of the Palladium over the years to contribute to this exciting capital campaign which will prepare the Palladium for another century of outstanding performances!"
"Our mission is to foster artistically and culturally diverse performing arts, educational, and film programs that bring artists and audiences together in a first-class professional, affordable setting,” Wilborn said. “Our building has been a landmark in St. Petersburg for almost 100 years. For the past 25 years, the Palladium has been a key element in Tampa Bay’s performing arts ecology. This campaign grants us the opportunity to transform the Palladium into a world-class performing arts center. Above all, we are trying to create a better experience for our loyal and growing audiences.”
The Palladium, owned by St. Petersburg College, will be reimagined in consultation with Earl Swenson Associates (ESA), Akustics, and Stages Consulting – all world-renowned. ESA designed Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center among dozens of other performing arts centers. Akustics recently completed the state-of-the-art home for the New York Philharmonic in The David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Stages has worked nearby on the Arsht Center in Miami, and the Dr. Phillips Center, and the Walt Disney Theatre in Orlando.
“St. Petersburg College has a long tradition of educating students in the arts, and the Palladium Theater is an important part of the College’s history,” said Dr. Tonjua Williams, SPC President. “Not only do we offer students a better future with a degree or certificate in the arts, but enriching our community is central to our mission. The Palladium is a gem in our community, and we are so thankful to the Hough family for supporting this project.”
The centerpiece of this expansion is an 800-seat reconfigured theater, providing a state-of-the-art dynamic viewing and listening experience for audiences. The renovation will include all new seating, the first update since 1925, and the hall will be completely reconfigured for better sight lines and audio enjoyment. The award-winning Side Door listening room downstairs will also be refreshed to support its intimate relationship between the artists and the audience.
The Palladium offers unlimited potential as a place of creativity and imagination, and the renovation will support the Palladium in developing talent onstage and behind the scenes, and most importantly, serving Tampa Bay artists through partnerships and programs not offered anywhere else. Strengthening the theater’s role as an arts incubator for the region, the expansion will also benefit area music, dance, and theater companies that call the Palladium their performance home.
“Donations are investments that will strengthen our role as an incubator for performing artists while at the same time preserving our history and strengthening our legacy,” says Wilborn. "When the St. Pete Opera needed a performance space, we were there for them. When the Chamber Players, the Nutcracker Ballet, Beacon Dance, La Lucha jazz, and hundreds of bands and performers needed a stage, we were there for them. Soon we will showcase them in a world-class performance space equipped for recording and live streaming.”
The capital campaign will raise the necessary funds from private philanthropy and public sources. Significant naming opportunities are available for those who wish to manifest their support of the Palladium's transformation. For more information about the expansion, visit
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About the Palladium Theater at SPC
With its two venues, Hough Hall and the intimate award-winning listening room, the Side Door, the Palladium fosters artistically and culturally diverse performing arts, educational, and film programs that bring artists and audiences together in a first-class professional, affordable setting.
The Palladium cornerstone was installed in 1925 by the First Church of Christ, Scientist as a basilican structure in the Romanesque style of architecture by architect Howard Lovewell Cheney, with magnificent Arts and Crafts style art tilework from the California studios of famed tilemaker Ernest A. Batchelder. The building was sold in 1998 to the Palladium Theater founders, a non-profit group of dedicated civic and arts leaders, who renovated it while preserving as much as possible of the historic interior. In 2007, the founders gifted ownership of the theater to St. Petersburg College with the provision that the theater continue its mission as the community’s professional and affordable venue.