investigativevoice.com

By Alan Z. Forman

A variety of proposals to maintain Baltimore’s historic Senator Theatre as a first-run movie venue met with a mix of support and criticism from community leaders and area residents who took prospective operators to task for being short on financial specifics at a “proposal presentation meeting” Tuesday evening at the Art Deco theater.

Located on York Road adjacent to Belvedere Square in North Baltimore, the 70-year-old theater has been under government control since the city took ownership of the property nearly a half-year ago after its long-term owner/operator, Tom Kiefaber, whose family had owned the facility since its inception in 1939, defaulted on his mortgage.

Four proposals to take control of the theater from the city were presented for public scrutiny at the three-hour meeting, two of which met with general audience approval and two which seemed to be universally criticized as being unspecific and weak.

A fifth prospective bidder, prominent Baltimore-based developer David Cordish, who had said previously he was interested in operating the theater as a nonprofit, as a public service, did not submit a final bid.

All four proposals would allow the Senator to continue operating as a movie theater, albeit with a wide range of ancillary uses ranging from the operation of a radio station to Sunday gospel services.

To demonstrate some of the proposed usages, Coppin State University Prof. Enoch Cook III, whose Noch-Noch Productions company envisions for the Senator an eclectic variety of theme-based film offerings mixed with all types of entertainment, presented one of his “team” members, a singer — who apologized for her voice not being up to par because she had spent the day performing at funerals and other venues — to show the various types of music he said the theater could feature.

He then showed the audience a three-minute-long Laurel & Hardy film clip added to some independent filming to demonstrate the variety of movies that could be shown at the Senator.

Some of the audience politely applauded the singer. Others seemed to enjoy watching Laurel & Hardy.

Questioned by an audience member about his apparent lack of experience operating a movie theater and asked how he would finance such an arrangement, Cook said he has written three screenplays and has a “team of experts” in his employ, one of whom “helps me with my taxes,” he said, adding that he was “a little bit hesitant” to discuss his budget and working capital with the audience.

One questioner asked all the presenters if the sidewalk in front of the theater would be preserved.

NO FINANCIAL STATISTICS — UNLESS PRESSED

The event was organized by the Baltimore Development Corporation, whose stated mission is “to serve as a catalyst for continued economic growth, job creation, and revitalization in Baltimore City.”

However, according to one city official in attendance, the BDC told the four presenters not to mention financial statistics at the meeting — unless pressed.

Cook was pressed, as were two other presenters: J.R. Owens, of J R Owens Corp., and James “Buzz” Cusack, of The Senator Theatre LLC and owner of the Charles Theatre in Baltimore’s Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

Cusack said he could renovate the Senator for approximately $800,000 — including putting in “comfortable seating with seats larger and farther apart” — and have it operating in less than a year, with a restaurant and crepe shop connected, similar to his operation of the five-venue Charles Theatre facility.

At least one questioner in the audience expressed skepticism about both Cusack's time frame and financial estimate. Cusack has told BDC his entire project would cost $1.6 million and also might include the addition of “a second theater in the Rosebank area” to the south of the current theater.

City Councilman Bill Henry (D-4th) — who termed the Senator “the economic engine of the York Road shopping area: one of Baltimore’s jewels, and one of the brighter, shinier ones” — said that he thought “we had a good set of presentations” but that it would have been more informative if the bidders had been less restrictive about revealing financial information to the audience.

Henry has been a long-time advocate for strengthening the York Road-Greenmount Avenue corridor. He co-chaired the Greenmount Avenue Revitalization Task Force and has served on the steering committee for the York Road Partnership.

Apparently the public-meeting forum is an unfamiliar arena for the quasi-public/private corporation charged with promoting the city’s business interests. The BDC official who chaired the meeting and introduced the presenters declined to answer Investigative Voice‘s questions and another BDC official, who was believed to be authorized to respond to the media, left the meeting early.

A FIRST-RUN MOVIE THEATER

Said Scott Peterson, chief spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon, “It’ll be a great victory for the city to keep the Senator as a first-run movie theater or alternatively a performing arts space.

“It’s more than just a theater,” Peterson told I.V. following the presentations. “It represents the whole Belvedere community; it’s a Maryland historic landmark.”

Owens, who wants to build between 20 and 24 apartments — using the Senator Theatre marquee as a facade — that he said would rent for “around $1,000 a month” for a two-bedroom, plus commercial space, was told by an audience member: “You’re using the Senator to sell your apartments; I don’t think 24 apartments will sustain the Senator,” adding that it appeared Owens has “no specific plan for the Senator.”

Owens denied the charges, insisting that his intention was “to diversify the site.

“I restore historic properties; that’s what I do,” he responded. “I don’t care if I’m the owner or not; this is just a proposal to financially save the theater.

“We just want it to be a theater — not a doodad, this-that-and-the-other,” he added, apparently in reference to the wide range of ancillary uses proposed by two of the other bidders.

One proposal that was well received was that of Towson University’s WTMD 89.7-FM radio station, which wants to move its operation from the college campus north of the Senator and operate the theater as “a community arts and media center.

“What we’re doing is the right thing for Baltimore,” according to Stephen Yasko, the general manager of the Towson U. public radio station, who said that the university would transform the Senator into a “multi-use film and concert theater” which would also house the station’s offices and studio.

Like the Noch-Noch proposal, WTMD would present themed movie festivals, premieres and film retrospectives, along with community fundraisers and programs for children.

When questioned about WTMD’s budget however, the Towson official said, “We really don’t know” what the project is going to cost, and did not respond to an audience member who charged that “Towson University is not respectful of the neighborhood,” especially those students in what the questioner called “de-facto fraternity houses.”

'AN ART DECO PALACE'

Another presenter, Kathleen Cusack, daughter of the Charles Theatre's operator, credited her father with bringing about the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, asserting that because of his vision “the Charles was transformed and the city’s arts district emerged.”

Referring to the Senator as an “Art Deco palace,” Buzz Cusack maintained that it is “most important for the Senator to remain what it has always been: a movie theater.”

He said the mistake made by former owner Kiefaber was that “he borrowed an awful lot of money” and then couldn’t pay it back, and that it “became impossible to operate the Senator as a single-screen theater.”

But Kiefaber told the audience: “What is missing here is historic-theater professionals. Every 70-75 years these theaters need to be restored.” Therefore, he maintained, the Senator “needs to become owned by a nonprofit, to preserve it for future generations. Grants and fundraising requires a nonprofit vehicle, legislatively mandated.”

Towson’s WTMD best fits that description, he said.

Asked by a reporter if he hoped to be a part of the Senator’s future, Kiefaber said he didn’t want to operate the theater any longer but that he felt he “can best help with fundraising.

“I’d like to be a part of that,” he said.

His concession stand in the theater lobby sold popcorn and Junior Mints to some of the attendees at the meeting.

The Senator Theatre Advisory Panel, which is made up of neighborhood and business organizations in the area and includes representatives from the BDC and its board, will continue meeting with the four prospective operators until a final decision is made by the mayor’s office.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it