Nearly three years after the city approved funding to upgrade the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, the project remains incomplete. The wait for new theater seating to complete the upgrade has been pushed back to at least summer 2026 amid departmental transitions and procurement delays.
The delay extends a yearslong effort to modernize the sizable East Austin cultural facility, which first opened in 1999 as a safe gathering place for neighborhood youth. The complex’s 100-seat theater has already received new lighting, curtains, paint and a replacement cinema screen. But until the seating is replaced, the renovation funded through a $400,000 grant from the city’s economic development entity Rally Austin will remain unfinished.
During the recent Arts Commission meeting, several commissioners expressed disbelief that a relatively modest purchase could take years to complete. Chair Gina Houston said she first learned of the delay during that meeting and has since been in contact with Rally Austin.
“Even if there was a three-month procurement process, we’ve had lots of time to put that order in,” Houston said, referencing what she was told is a typical purchase window for goods by the city. “It’s strange, and it’s frustrating for the community.”
The theater improvement funding was approved in December 2022 as part of the city’s 2018 cultural bond package. Legal agreements between the city and Rally Austin took about nine months to finalize, with spending beginning in 2024. Work on other elements has proceeded gradually to complete new painting and electrical upgrades, wall and stage curtains and installation of a modern projection system.
Rally Austin leaders say they were told earlier this year that the new seating would be ordered by summer 2025, but that schedule was later revised to 2026. At a recent meeting of the Arts Commission, Rally CEO Theresa Alvarez said her group has repeatedly asked the city to prioritize the purchase.
“It took us nine months to get the legal agreements in place,” she said. “We were told those seats were going to be purchased this summer, and it’s been pushed back a year. We’ve asked city staff to please prioritize that.”
In recent months, responsibility for the facility has shifted from the Parks and Recreation Department to the newly formed Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment (ACME). The management contract with longtime private operator Legends Global expired Sept. 30 after the Austin Rosewood Community Development Corporation declined to extend it, leaving the city to assume direct control.
In an email to the Austin Monitor Candice Cooper, an administrator with ACME, said the department is “actively exploring avenues to expedite the remaining renovation work, including the procurement and installation of the new theater seating.” She added that ACME’s goal is to move the project forward “as efficiently as possible” as the department finalizes its management transition.
An Oct. 8 memo from ACME Director Angela Means outlined the changeover, noting that former employees with management vendor Legends Global are being offered temporary city positions to maintain continuity while ACME audits operations, security, and programming at the complex. The department is also evaluating long-term governance options for the city-owned facility and its board, the Austin Rosewood Community Development Corporation.
Millnnium general manager Kim Wright, who will transition to city employment under ACME, said nearly all of the theater improvements funded through Rally Austin are complete except for the seats and two small dressing rooms planned for performers. She said the new seating is expected to cost roughly $70,000 to $80,000 and must be procured through the city’s vendor system.
“The seats are the last large, transformative feature we need to replace,” Wright said. “Everything else is cosmetic at this point.”
She described a years-long process slowed by city procurement procedures and competing departmental priorities.
“One project manager oversees all of the improvements, capital and otherwise, for (the parks department),” she said. “It’s just a matter of scheduling what’s more of a priority versus what isn’t.”
While the theater still contains its original 25-year-old seating, Wright said it remains in use for private screenings and small events, typically drawing audiences of 50 to 75 people. Once completed, the space is intended to support both film and live performances, creating what Wright calls a “boutique, multipurpose venue” that can again serve as a revenue-generating community resource.
Houston said the slow pace adds to concerns about accessibility and affordability at the Millennium, which she said has, “become overpriced to the point where people can’t have birthday or retirement parties there.” she said. “
In a written statement, a Parks and Recreation Department spokesperson said the department completed several major upgrades to the theater before the management hand-off, including painting, curtain replacement, a new projection screen and ADA-compliant layout planning.
For District 1 Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, whose district includes the Millennium, the issue reflects deeper management problems within the city’s capital project system. She said years of staff turnover and inconsistent record-keeping have left gaps in oversight that repeatedly stall neighborhood-level investments.
“There’s just nothing in the way of oversight. When employees leave, the knowledge goes with them,” she said. “So much of what happens in District 1 and (78702) are things that just fell through the cracks over and over again.”
Harper-Madison said the Millennium’s long-term challenges go beyond one delayed purchase. She called the 114,000-square-foot facility “an under-utilized resource, an over-resourced resource, and an under-invested resource,” pointing to aging infrastructure, maintenance problems, and a lack of strategy to generate revenue from its bowling alley, concessions area, and event spaces.
“Thinking about the seats is important,” she said, “but if we’re talking about seating, we’re having the wrong discussion altogether. Our priority should be to get the Millennium back to the community.”
Harper-Madison said she’s cautiously optimistic that ACME’s leadership can stabilize operations and restore the facility’s purpose as a cultural hub for East Austin youth. But she warned that success will depend on developing a clear business and programming plan that ensures affordability and community use.
“The plan for the Millennium being self-sufficient financially and beneficial to the community… that’s the part my successor will have to take on,” she said, acknowledging the issues will remain in play beyond the conclusion of her Council term at the end of next year.
As Austin continues to redevelop the 11th and 12th Street corridors, Harper-Madison said the Millennium must be considered alongside other nearby public assets including the former Texans Can Academy site, the Fleet Services facility on Hargrave Street, and the redevelopment of the Rosewood Courts site.
For now, the theater remains open for small events, with ACME conducting operational assessments and Rally Austin continuing to advocate for a faster timeline. The department has not provided a revised procurement schedule beyond the 2026 target.
Harper-Madison said the future of the facility will depend less on any single renovation item and more on whether the city can finally treat the Millennium as a long-term public asset rather than a recurring project.
“This place was created as a safe space for East Austin’s kids, and it still can be,” she said. “But if we want it to serve that purpose again, we have to stop managing it like a short-term fix and start treating it like the community investment it was meant to be.”
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