HILL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION PRESIDENT AND CEO MARIMBA MILLIONES CUTS THE RIBBON ON THE PHASE 1 COMPLETION OF THE NEW GRANADA THEATER, AUG. 12, 2026. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
With Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” playing on the loudspeakers, the historic art deco facade and marquee that reads “New Granada” was lit, brightly lit, for all to see, on Centre Avenue in the Hill District, for the first time in half a century.
The night was Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, a date that will live in Pittsburgh and Hill District history forever.
Finally, after more than 50 years, there are people entering the New Granada Theater building, after decades of planning, fundraising, and just flat out hard work. The third floor of the New Granada Theater is home to the University of Pittsburgh Community Engagement Center. The center is open to the community each weekday; it’s the first organization to call the New Granada Theater home in, as mentioned, half a century.
THE LIGHTS ARE ON—THE NEW GRANADA THEATER, WEDNESDAY NIGHT, AUG. 12, 2026. (PHOTOS BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
That moment was immortalized with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Hill Community Development Corporation President and CEO Marimba Milliones, scissors in hand, cutting the ribbon in the back of the theater along Wylie Avenue.
“I can’t begin to tell you fully in words what this moment means to me,” Milliones said just before she cut the ribbon, Aug. 12. “It is truly a grand occasion and it is deeply personal to me.”
“This achievement is more than a building,” Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel said at the celebration. “It advances the goals the Hill set for itself in its own master plan, and it honors and houses a cultural and creative legacy. It honors and houses the opportunity to start new businesses, and it helps to guide and grow the community’s own vision and belongs to the people that shaped it.”
JAMIE DUCAR (UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS), JOAN GABEL (UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH CHANCELLOR), MARIMBA MILLIONES (HILL CDC PRESIDENT AND CEO), LINA D. DOSTILIO (UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH VICE CHANCELLOR FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS).
Earlier this summer, Pa. Lt. Gov. Austin Davis announced a $1 million grant to go towards the restoration of the first and second floors of the New Granada Theater. You can bet that there will be another celebration when the entire New Granada Theater is officially open for the community.
The New Granada’s history in the Hill District stretches back nearly a century, with generations of residents gathering there for entertainment, culture, and special occasions. Designed by pioneering African American architect Louis A.S. Bellinger and originally opened in 1927 as the Pythian Temple, the building later became the New Granada Theater and emerged as an important destination for the community. Its ballroom welcomed legendary performers including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Pittsburgh’s own Billy Eckstine. Beyond the stage, generations of Hill District residents gathered within its walls for dances, proms, civic events, youth programs, and countless special occasions.
“All of this work would not be possible without the hard-working staff of the Hill Community Development Corporation, past and present,” Milliones said.
She added: “To the Hill CDC Board of Directors and Roderick Craighead (Jr.), our chairman, who allowed great work to happen as we bring challenging projects over and over again, you have supported our vision, our passion and you believe in our ability to deliver. Thank you.”
CONGRESSWOMAN SUMMER LEE, MARIMBA MILLIONES, JUDGE WRENNA WATSON.
