sentences:  In 1996, The Joyce purchased a dance performance and rehearsal facility at 155 Mercer Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood that was owned and operated by the Dia Art Foundation.The building had been used for dance since 1985, and was sold because of financial difficulties at Dia.The Joyce obtained the building for $1.5 million with support from the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the charitable organization established by the organization's longstanding benefactor LuEsther T. Mertz upon her death.