It's been a rough year for the Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches.

The nonprofit group, which has been serving the county for the past 17 years, lost its home at the Palm Beach Mall Jan. 31 as part of the former owner's gradual shutting down of the mall. Since then all of the puppets and props have been in storage, and Jo Janeen Timmis, the center's executive director, has been working out of her bedroom.

But the center's luck seems to be changing. They are set to move into a 5,000-square-foot location on the first floor of the Old School Square Parking Garage in downtown Delray Beach some time this fall.

The Delray Beach City Commission recently approved a two-year lease agreement between the Puppetry Arts Center and the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. The space is separate from the area where cars park and has never been occupied since the garage was built in 2006.

It will be the nonprofit's sixth location, but Timmis, who established the center in 1993, said she has no intention of moving again anytime soon.

"We're very excited about coming to Delray," she said. "I see a lot of opportunity there."

In the meantime, Timmis said that she could use a temporary office space, which she's hoping someone from the community will donate. The nonprofit also needs to raise money to pay for the build-out of the space in the parking garage .

Timmis said that the nonprofit's finances have dwindled this past year because, without a home, they haven't been able to put on a puppet show since the beginning of January.

The center normally puts on about 200 shows each year, Timmis said, which attract about 15,000 to 19,000 people annually.

The new location will have a black box theater with seating for at least 150 people, as well as a puppetry museum and gift shop.