Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood is about to trade some forklifts for fouettés. Pacific Northwest Ballet is opening a new school location in the area, naming the space the Peter Boal Center and gearing up to start renovations next week. The company plans to lease roughly 20,671 square feet inside the Track Six building, adding room for lower-division students and adult classes while keeping upper-division training downtown at the Phelps Center.
According to The Seattle Times, PNB’s Track Six buildout carries an estimated price tag of about $12.2 million. The company aims to finish the renovation by next summer so the facility can host classes for the fall 2027 season. The Times reports the Peter Boal Center will accommodate roughly 500 to 600 students in the school’s lower divisions and adult open classes, which would boost capacity for the organization’s nearly 1,000 current students.
What Track Six Offers The Company
The new Peter Boal Center will sit inside Track Six, a four-story industrial building in SoDo that comes with the kind of details dancers and teachers care about: large floor plates, high ceilings and on-site parking that make it workable for big studios and busy class schedules. The Track Six site lists the building’s address as 3847 1st Ave S and highlights features such as demisable suites and nearby parking, perks that likely helped sell PNB on the location.
How The SoDo Site Fits PNB's Network
PNB is not abandoning its longtime home base. Upper-division classes will remain at the Phelps Center by Seattle Center, keeping the company’s professional training hub anchored downtown while beginner and adult classes shift to SoDo. The PNB website lists the Phelps Center and the Francia Russell Center in Bellevue as the school’s other campuses, forming a three-location network once SoDo comes online.
The Seattle Times noted that the school generates about 18 percent of PNB’s annual revenue, a reminder that this is not just an artistic move but a financial one. More space for classes can mean more students on the roster and more stability for the company’s bottom line.
Timeline And What Comes Next
Renovations at Track Six are scheduled to begin next week, with work planned to line up so the new space can open for the fall 2027 season. The lease terms and overall schedule were detailed by the Puget Sound Business Journal, which also reported on PNB’s plans to bring community programming into the SoDo location once the doors are open.
Why The Naming Matters
The new studio’s name is not just a formality. PNB is calling the SoDo facility the Peter Boal Center in honor of the company’s Artistic Director, who has led both the company and the school for more than two decades. The PNB website lists Peter Boal as Artistic Director and Director of PNB School, and the added space effectively gives his training program more room to expand community offerings while keeping the professional pipeline focused at the Phelps Center downtown.
