Completed on time and under budget at a cost of $43.5 million, the 42,166-square-foot arts complex<\/a> at the southeast corner of Roosevelt and Truxtun roads has attracted national attention for how it has creatively taken shape inside a long-shuttered, 1942-era U.S. Navy recreation\/retail building.<\/p>\n Cygnet Theatre co-founders Sean Murray, left, Bill Schmidt and Lisa Johnson, the president and CEO of Arts District Liberty Station, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n One of two theater spaces inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n One of two theater spaces inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Lisa Johnson, the president and CEO of Arts District Liberty Station, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cygnet Theatre co-founders Bill Schmidt, right, and Sean Murray on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n An office inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A rehearsal area inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The lobby inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n One of two theater spaces inside The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A sketch inside the costume room at The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cygnet Theatre co-founders Sean Murray, right, and Bill Schmidt on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 11<\/p>\n Cygnet Theatre co-founders Sean Murray, left, Bill Schmidt and Lisa Johnson, the president and CEO of Arts District Liberty Station, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n On Friday morning, officials with Arts District Liberty Station, which owns the building, and Cygnet Theatre, the building\u2019s long-term tenant, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony where a new 5-foot-tall red block letter sign was unveiled bearing the name that the center will now be known as: The Joan.<\/p>\n That\u2019s in honor of underwriter Joan Jacobs, who with her husband, Irwin, gave $10 million toward the center. She passed away on May 6, 2024, just four months after the project broke ground.<\/p>\n Take a peek inside The Joan, the $43.5 million new theater at Liberty Station<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Arts District Liberty Station President and CEO Lisa Johnson said The Joan is the most ambitious adaptive reuse project in the 25-year history of the district, and it will now serve as the cornerstone and \u201cwelcoming center\u201d of the community as drivers enter the district on Roosevelt Road from Rosecrans Street.<\/p>\n Johnson said seeing it all come to fruition in recent months has been deeply satisfying.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a cryer,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I\u2019ve had more than one moment with this building where my breath was taken away and I was overwhelmed with emotion when I saw what we\u2019d done.\u201d<\/p>\n Those sentiments are shared by Cygnet Theatre co-founders Bill Schmidt and Sean Murray, who had long dreamed of finding a permanent home for their nearly 23-year-old company, which started out in a Rolando-area strip mall near San Diego State University, then spent the past 17 years at the Old Town Theatre in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.<\/p>\n Theater lovers share memories of Old Town as Cygnet prepares for its next chapter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cWhen we started to look at this actual building, it was far beyond our wildest imagination,\u201d said Murray, Cygnet\u2019s artistic director. \u201cI just am stunned sometimes at really how beautiful it is. I look at it and think, this is real?\u201d<\/p>\n And Schmidt, Cygnet\u2019s executive director, said that as wonderful as it is for Cygnet to occupy The Joan, there\u2019s a bigger story to its construction than their own.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to remind people is that this isn\u2019t Bill and Sean\u2019s theater. This is our gift to San Diego. We\u2019re so honored to be able to do that. Without all of the patrons and supporters, we would be nothing, so we share it all with them,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n Military roots<\/p>\n The Joan was built from the bones of Building 187, one of the many structures rapidly constructed during World War II at the Naval Training Center base near Loma Portal.<\/p>\n After the NTC base was decommissioned in 1997, the city of San Diego hired Corky McMillin Companies to repurpose 365 acres of the property, which was later renamed Liberty Station.<\/p>\n One hundred acres of Liberty Station was set aside to create Arts District Liberty Station, where McMillan and several ownership groups have reimagined 18 of the 26 former Navy barracks, offices and service buildings into a mix of galleries, art and dance studios, restaurants, retail shops, event spaces and \u2014 now \u2014 theaters.<\/p>\n (Restaurateur Ryan Thorson is now working with district officials to repurpose four former Navy officer homes and a guardhouse for a restaurant project called The Admiral, and the district\u2019s final four barracks buildings are as-yet unleased.)<\/p>\n Johnson said Arts District Liberty Station was eager to bring Cygnet to the property because of the quality of theater it produced and the generosity of its loyal patrons, who have donated many millions of dollars to make The Joan happen.<\/p>\n There\u2019s still $5 million to be raised for The Joan project, but Johnson said she\u2019s confident the campaign will be completed in full. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a robust campaign and we\u2019re very close to 88 percent of the total we need raised. That\u2019s just a small amount to go to close that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson said Cygnet Theatre\u2019s arrival has been hotly anticipated by the district\u2019s current tenants, including restaurants, galleries and retail outlets who hope ticket-holders will arrive early for dinner, drinks and shopping.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone here is really excited,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n One of the biggest bonuses for Cygnet theater-goers in Arts District Liberty Station is free and ample parking. Liberty Station has 15 parking lots with a combined 5,000 spaces, including a large lot catty-corner to The Joan.<\/p>\n While the city of San Diego has recently announced plans to expand paid parking spaces and hours to raise revenue, the lots at Liberty Station are privately owned and maintained.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will not be paid parking here in the near future,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n
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<\/a>The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)