By Alan Z. Forman
As the Baltimore Development Corporation languishes in its determination of the fate of the 71-year-old Senator Theatre, an independent organization “dedicated to the preservation of Baltimore’s 1939 movie house” began a letter-writing campaign Wednesday that attempts to draw Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake into the controversy surrounding the future of the historic theater.
In an email to the new mayor, the president of Friends of the Senator Theatre charged officials of the BDC, the quasi-public/private agency that has decision-making power over what will ultimately happen to the North Baltimore structure, of engaging in “curiously stubborn and misguided actions” and inattention to the historic nature of the landmark Art Deco building.
The mayor will make the final decision on the theater’s fate, after receiving the recommendation of the BDC and its advisory panel. In administrations past, the BDC was considered by many in Baltimore to be more than just a quasi-governmental agency: It was considered to be virtually running the city government, a group of non-elected bureaucrats with decision-making governmental power.
'LAST OF ITS KIND IN THE STATE'
Pointing out to the mayor that the Senator is “an internationally recognized Baltimore landmark, and the last of its kind in the state,” Tom Harris, the Senator friends group’s president, decried the absence of input from historic theater redevelopment experts — to the detriment of the decision-making process regarding the Senator’s future.
“If the BDC is to make an honest and optimal recommendation to your office for a plan that envisions the best possible future for The Senator,” Harris’s email to the mayor asserts, “the recommended plan must be scrutinized (and when awarded, carefully overseen) to ensure that its business and programming model will not only afford it sustainability, but ensure as well that the theatre’s many unique historic features and attributes are protected and preserved to guarantee that the irreplaceable essence of Baltimore’s classic 1939 art deco jewel will endure for another 70 years and beyond!”
Harris’s sentiments were echoed in a second letter to Rawlings-Blake by Laura Perkins, a Friends of the Senator Theatre delegate to the Senator Theatre Advisory Panel, a group composed of neighborhood and business organizations in the area, and including representatives from the BDC and its board.
The Friends of the Senator Theatre website provides a form letter and encourages interested parties to write to the mayor in protest of the position and actions of the BDC.
In her letter, Perkins, a blogger who runs the website Astrogirl’s Galaxy Guide under the pseudonym Laura Serena, and who last week purchased a house located behind the historic theater on Rosebank Ave. at a foreclosure auction, told the mayor: “The alarming manner in which the BDC is conducting the Senator Theatre RFP [Request for Proposals] selection process is procedurally flawed, and it must be rectified.”
Blake’s spokesman, Ryan O’Doherty, told Investigative Voice Thursday night, “We look forward to reviewing the letters,” but as of the moment the mayor has not seen them.
“The Senator Theatre is an important cultural icon" to Baltimore, he said.
PERKINS RESIGNS IN PROTEST
More than a week ago, Perkins, who had represented the friends group on the BDC advisory panel, resigned in protest, citing the secretive closed-door policies of the BDC.
Asserting that “the process lacks the expertise and crucial transparency required for a high-profile civic redevelopment project that to date has required the investment of over a million dollars in taxpayer funds,” Perkins maintained that “it must become more objective and transparent as soon as possible” and “the Senator RFPs need objective scrutiny by industry experts to advise the panel and the BDC board, if the results…. are to have any validity.
“At this point,” she concluded, “the RFP process is a shambles.”
The BDC has narrowed down the four original proposals to renovate and operate the theater to two: Towson University’s radio station, WTMD-FM, and James “Buzz” Cusack, the owner/operator of the Charles Theatre, in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, just below North Avenue.
Cusack proposes to renovate the theater, provide comfortable, spaced seating, and open an attached crepe shop and restaurant similar to those he currently operates at the Charles.
WTMD wants to relocate its studio and offices to the Senator building and provide a mix of movies, film festivals and cultural events. The Charles Theatre proposal would provide first-run movies similar to those showing currently at the Charles, and would — at some future, unspecified date — add a second screen adjacent to the current Senator building.
HOME PURCHASE COULD COMPLICATE PROCESS
Perkins’ purchase of the Rosebank Avenue house could complicate that process; however, it is believed that the BDC sees Perkins’ newly acquired property as unrelated to and not affecting the two proposals under consideration.
Perkins paid $106,800 for the house, in the hope, she said, of gaining what she termed "a seat at the table" to influence the BDC decision on the Senator's future.
According to Tom Kiefaber, the former owner/operator of the Senator, whose family built the structure in 1939, and who is an associate of Perkins, the BDC is running “a charade” to determine the theater’s future, that the board’s veiled decision all along has been to give the building to Cusack and the Charles Theatre to operate.
In an interview with Investigative Voice Wednesday night, both Kiefaber and Perkins lamented the BDC’s “refusal to allow” what they termed “qualified historic theater redevelopment consultants and film exhibition experts” to assist the citizen panel and the BDC in “professionally evaluating” the two proposals under consideration.
Both also said they assumed whoever got the contract to renovate and operate the Senator would attempt to acquire the property purchased by Perkins, which is adjacent to the rear of the theater.
Applauding Rawlings-Blake’s pledge to restore transparency and integrity to Baltimore City government, Perkins said she hoped that would extend to the operations of the BDC with respect to its decision-making process regarding the Senator.
Kiefaber seemed less certain. The BDC has never wanted Towson University to run the Senator, he said.
“They’ve been in Cusack’s corner all along.”
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
its time to name at least 31 of the 60 businesses in the belvedere business district that are concerned with the process.
Your words:
"We're much more concerned about the plans the owner of the Charles has to bash two holes for doorways through the walls of the iconic outer lobby, where doorways never were before, turn the ladies lounge and restroom into a restaurant, and destroy the men's lounge with its original faux fireplace and tile." facebook feb 3rd, in response to the wbal story about the residents in our community that do not want towson university in our neighborhood.
Why werent you concerned with Tom K's plan to smash a huge hole in the wall of the theatre itself? Opening up the concession stand directly into the screen room? Toms plan also included renovating the bathrooms? Where were you then?
Lets face it, you guys (Tom H, Tom K, Laura P, FOTS) all have an agenda to push and that is to get wtmd into the senator. you may play it off like you are so concerned that they get all the right information but it is really about finding people that will direct the bdc in your direction, the direction of wtmd. FOTS is nothing but a push for wtmd and to say otherwise is bullshit.
The point here is that a large number people (nearly 1,500 on the FoTS Facebook page alone) that want The Senator process to be wrapped up with the best outcome possible.
We don't want to undermine the process, we just want the mayor to be sure she has the best information possible so she can make a truly informed decision. We don't believe she was going to get that and thought she should know.
The concern is that it appears that the BDC has not done enough (yes, in our opinion) to solicit sufficient interaction with historical theatre redevelopment experts, but is going to make a recommendation to the mayor anyway.
Yes, the BDC called in Mr. Marty Azola who has credentials in historic building "adaptive reuse". That's a good start, but as Ms. Karen Colizzi Noonan (Theatre Historical Society of America President & BDC Advisory Panel member) has pointed out, "Mr. Azola's experience in historic preservation is very useful, but the care and feeding of an historic theater is a very different animal."
They sent Mr. John Bell (Tampa Theatre, FL) a list of questions by email. Again, a start, but did not give panel members or BDC officials the opportunity to pose followup questions. And, is that really enough?
Consider these two scenarios:
1) If you considered starting a business, wouldn’t you actively seek advice from multiple sources _within the field_ to be reasonably sure of your chances of success?
2) If you were told you needed a major operation, would you not seek multiple _specialist_ opinions or do you just have the operation because the first doc said you should?
(belvedere resident): We don't expect the building to be 'set in amber', however we do want any renovation to be respectful of the building's history (frankly, I'd like to see restoration included) - that goes for BOTH of the RFP respondents and another reason why we think more expertise is needed to evaluate their plans.
In the end, if the process is done right (thoroughly) there will be little to justify complaints, won't there?
Is there anybody who doesn't want this done right?
[Tom Harris is president of Friends of the Senator Theatre. —Ed.]
Historic American Theatres (located here in Baltimore), another professional resource used by the BDC.
Tom, will you please list the business owners in the Belvedere Square commercial district that are concerned with the process?
Ah, the tedium of politics...
Throughout the various stages of the RFP process though, my BDC contact ,Kristen Mitchell, has managed the procedures in a straightforward professional manner. I believe Ms. Mitchell sincerely desires an optimal, unbiased outcome for the Senator Theatre RFP selection process. Ms Mitchell is not in a leadership position at the BDC however, and therein lies the rub.
Hopefully the clarion call on the rise to legitimize the BDC's RFP selection process and allow objective industry experts to analyze, consult and endorse either RFP prior to the final selection by Mayor Rawlings-Blake, will be heeded. The shrouded and inappropriately secretive RFP selection process at BDC must emerge from behind closed doors and into the sunlight for the pivotal selection to have objective validity. Strong, transparent sunlight is a great disinfectant.
The Senator is now officially "The People's Theatre" in more than name only due to the investment of over a million dollars in scarce taxpayer funds. Before the BDC and City Hall hand Baltimore's celebrated national historic landmark over to a new owner, the people need good reason to trust the integrity of the process. The BDC's blatant, old-school refusal to simply allow experienced historic theatre redevelopment professional to add their expertise to the Senator Theatre RFP selection process is fueling the controversy.
I don't see how the Senator will be able to continue operating as a single-screen (or even double-screen) theatre by knocking down a few walls (to a historic piece of property, no less!) and adding a crepe shop. It has *continued* to struggle as a single-screen theatre for too long now. What makes the BDC or Cusack think The Senator will survive with the mere addition of a crepe shop!?!
WTMD's mixed-use proposal offers the utilitarian option! Movies, music, art space!, thereby allowing the creative class, music and movie lovers a great place to go and hang out, spend money, and re-vitalize the community surrounding The Senator! It's a win-win-win solution.
There is also a letter writing campaign that Friends of The Senator is sponsoring at http://www.senatorletter.com. People can go there to send a letter to the Mayor, asking her to intervene in the RFP process and require that objective, experienced historic theatre consultants and film industry experts guide the process. This letter campaign is getting participation, not just from people in Maryland, but from other parts of the country as well.
Thanks for the great article, Mr. Forman.