ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Palladium Theater plans to ask the city of St. Petersburg for their support Thursday as venue officials work towards a $10 million renovation project.

The 99-year-old building, which sits at the corner of 5th Ave N and 3rd St N in St. Pete, spent most of its life as a Christian church. The original church opened in the 1920s and shut its doors in the 1990s, when it was turned into a theater.

For the last 25 years, the team at the Palladium said the historic building has its limitations when it comes to acoustics, seating, and the view of the stage.

The theater’s chairs are the originals from the 1920s that once functioned as seats for congregation members. While charming, executive director Paul Wilborn says the narrow seats don’t work well in the current day.

“So they’re gorgeous seats, but after about an hour and a half they get very hard,” he said.

In addition to replacing the seats, Wilborn says work needs to be done on the roof and walls to accommodate for better acoustics. The hard church walls, he says, cause sound to bounce.

“When you’re doing chamber or acoustic music, hard is good, the sound bounces and you want that,” he said. “When you’re doing loud rock or hip hop or any of that stuff, you don’t want a hard building.”

To date, $5.5 million has been raised in private pledges.

An additional $850,000 is coming from the state budget. Wilborn is hoping the city of St Petersburg, Pinellas County and the Tourist Development Commission will see the value and contribute as well.

“We are the local place where local performers and arts organizations come to do their thing,” he said. “Without us, there’s no place to perform. We’re part of the arts ecosystem of Tampa Bay.”

The renovation project is already moving forward, with the state funding going towards hiring an architect and design team.