The Durham Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2008, is in the midst of a renovation project to upgrade its facilities.
The first part of the renovation is to replace nearly 2,000 seats and the theater's carpeting.
DPAC officials say upgrades like this would usually be done 15 to 20 years after opening. But the center’s spokeswoman Rachel Traversari says the theater's consistent ticket sales have pushed the timeline forward.
“It's just due to the fact that we've had over 3.5 million guests through this building in the last nine years that some of these improvements came a little sooner than later,” said Traversari. “It's the start of a capital improvement plan where we plan to make upgrades over the next 10 to 15 years.”
The seating and carpet upgrades will cost nearly $2 million. The funds come from a facility fee attached to each ticket that the city of Durham collects specifically for upgrades to DPAC.
“That was part of the agreement when DPAC was built,” Traversari said. “The city of Durham has dedicated certain funding every year to capital improvement plans for DPAC, one of those being new seats and carpet.”
Traversari said a new manufacturer is producing higher-quality seats.
“The seats that they produce are in 98 percent of the theaters in New York City, including the Richard Rogers Theater where 'Hamilton' is playing, the Minskoff Theater where Disney's ‘The Lion King’ has played for the last 20 years, as well as at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,” Traversari said.
The seat and carpet upgrades are expected to happen next month.