NOLA’s TwiRoPa Shuttered

Hurricane Katrina has taken one more victim – New Orleans’ massive entertainment complex TwiRoPa.

The 40,000 square-foot facility, which boasted five staging areas and three dance floors, has been declared structurally unsound.

“Rebuilding the facility is not feasible and it is with great sorrow that I hereby officially announce that TwiRoPa will not be reopening,” managing partner Adam Sabloff posted on the venue’s Web site October 24th.

The brick and cypress structure located in the Warehouse District was built in 1911. Since 1808, the site has been home to a tobacco warehouse, cotton press, cracker factory and a twine and rope warehouse. TwiRoPa is an amalgamation of the warehouse’s previous three products – twine, rope and paper.

Local artists renovated the building in 2001, turning it into the largest minority-owned and operated venue in the U.S., according to the Web site.

The building has hosted Duran Duran, Ani DiFranco, Air, DJ Shadow, Erasure, and Bright Eyes among others since its debut in 2003.

Rooms included the 4,500-capacity Godzilla, the 1,350-capacity TwiRoPa Live, the 550-capacity Tchoupitoulas and the 350-capacity Mill.