Financing delays push back reopening of Soap Factory to mid-2019

The Soap Factory, a 30-year-old experimental arts organization in Minneapolis that closed last September for construction work, has delayed its reopening for a third time, with a target now of mid-2019.

Housed in an old manufacturing space near the downtown riverfront at 514 SE. 2nd St., the Soap was scheduled to reopen May 5, then that date was pushed back to Oct. 28.

Executive Director Bill Mague blamed the new federal tax law, in part. He said the law, passed in December, created uncertainty in the lending industry that caused delays in getting financing approved.

"Owning a 130-year-old building that needs $6 million worth of work is not an insignificant hurdle, even for a 30-year-old organization," said Mague. "We don't live in a society that values arts enough."

Tax-credit changes for rehabilitation of historic buildings in particular caused "a hiccup that nobody anticipated," Mague said, adding that the organization was confident it could resume construction this fall and complete the work by the second quarter of 2019.

Programming planned this season has been rescheduled for late 2019 and 2020. The Soap will announce a new schedule this winter, he said.

The organization serves as a creative hub for visual artists. Financial problems forced it to take a hiatus in 2016 after the departure of Ben Heywood, longtime executive director.

In June, the Soap hired a new artistic director, Ellie Kevorkian, who had worked at Omaha's Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

She remains on the payroll, Mague said, "getting the lay of the land" in Minneapolis and traveling to New York to network on behalf of the organization.