Synetic Theater, a cultural pillar of Crystal City since 2010, will not have its lease renewed by landlord JBG Smith. According to the theater, they were informed of this development in the summer. Its home at 1800 South Bell Street is one of three current Crystal City buildings that Amazon will lease space from when the company moves in beginning in early 2019.

This came as something of a surprise to the theater, says Synetic Theater’s stage manager Marley Giggey, who spoke to DCist on behalf of Synetic leadership. But there was “writing on the wall” that something was up in 2017 when the lease was only renewed for an extra year as opposed to their typical lease of two years or more. “What’s been most confusing to us is that we weren’t given any definitive reasons as to why,” says Giggey.

While Giggey believes that Amazon moving in was certainly a factor, she also says the nearly 50-year-old building has been mostly vacant ever since the Federal Emergency Management Agency left in 2015 and has been rumored for demolition even prior to the Amazon announcement earlier this month. The plan, according to the Washington Business Journal, is for JBG Smith to spend $10 million to renovate the building in the short-term before demolishing it and redeveloping the site. Says Giggey, “We knew that our future was tied to whatever happened to the building.”

Synetic has occupied the space in Crystal City since 2010, having previously partnered with theater companies in the area to stage productions. Owned by Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili, the theater has made its niche mostly in wordless physical theater. The company has racked up 27 Helen Hayes awards and 116 nominations.

The theater and its team are now looking for a new home, hopefully in Arlington. Arlington Arts, the county’s cultural affairs division, confirmed to DCist that it is assisting the theater with finding a new space. Synetic’s last scheduled show at 1800 South Bell Street will be a production of Treasure Island set for July.

Giggey says she’s disappointed that the theater and Amazon are not destined to share a building. “We could have had a mutually beneficial relationship,” she says, “I think certainly we would have been great neighbors.”

In a statement provided to DCist, a spokesperson for JBG Smith said, “We look forward to the Synetic Theater completing another successful season at 1800 South Bell Street.  Arts and cultural organizations are key components to a thriving mixed-use community, and we continue to explore opportunities for the theater to relocate within National Landing.”

This post has been updated with comment from JBG Smith.