One of the venues I frequently work in is an old movie
house. The renovation included a full
dimmer system, even though the remodel was only completed ~4 years ago. It still works great for the intelligent fixtures, since the dimmers can all be used as true relays as well.
I'd make two suggestions, the first being that since you don't know how the space will be used, get a number of circuits mirrored in their locations. What I mean is, get two of the same socco outlets (circuits 6-12, for example) in different parts of the building. We're constantly running socco from the back of the
proscenium to the catwalks and vice versa, even though they all have their own dedicated circuits. It just depends on the show, the set, and how the designer wants to use the space. Having the ability to steal circuits from nearby instead of miles away would be a major time saver, even if the total number of dimmers stayed the same. Mirroring them is not an excuse for less dimmers overall!
Along with that, having enough
mouse holes designed in that you can get a big socco or
feeder run to odd parts of the building, like the catwalks or the
trap room.
Mouse holes are cheap during construction, but harder to add later. They've been the saving grace in this
venue, with a little 24channel Sensor rack that we regularly drag into the hallway outside the catwalks or land backstage. It also prevents cables though doorways, which isn't going to fly for a lot of fire marshals.
Second, make sure they spec out fixtures that will continue to be supported, and that fit the skill
level of the crews you're going to have. It's a hard thing to do, my example
venue got VL1000's and Phillips ColorBlast TRX's along with Lustrs (and conventionals). The Lustrs are fine, but the VL's are a royal pain to change the lamps and re-hang (no handles, wtf?), especially when the
venue keeps cycling through master electricians. The ColorBlasts all have dying screens after only a few years, and there are no longer replacements. When you've got a company demoing new units for you to choose, ask them about the planned longevity of that product
line. Part of your demo should be the crew getting to lift and hang the fixtures, so you can tell if they're going to be able to heave that thing out over a
catwalk railing to put it up.
Finally, a side suggestion to not let the architect shoot down tech needs because they're not pretty enough. It happens all too often with restorations and remodels, because they want to preserve the historic parts of the building. Ultimately, the space has to be usable as a theater, too. There's a major difference between ornate historic plaster
trim and the open field of the ceiling. One is just fine to chisel through to put up some very useful
FOH rigging points during construction. Don't let them convince you that 100% of the original building is some sacred thing that can never be touched.