Producing additional sources of revenue to keep The Senator Theatre solvent was a common theme as four bidders got a chance to pitch their plans to the public during a forum Tuesday on the future of the landmark theater.

After a foreclosure auction early this year, Baltimore City took control of the 900-seat theater across from Belvedere Square. The quasi-public Baltimore Development Corp., which fosters economic growth in the city, is now entertaining four proposals.

They were the only responses that the BDC received after issuing its Request for Proposals late last year to preserve The Senator as a performing arts venue, according to BDC’s senior economic development officer, Kristen Mitchell.

Bidders are the owner of the Charles Theatre, the owner of a theatrical consulting firm, a Mt. Vernon developer who specializes in restoration, and Towson University’s FM radio station, WTMD.

TU’s WTMD FM radio station would move to the site and anchor a venue that would feature a variety of activities “that cut across socio-economic situations,” according to station general manager Steve Yasko.

They would range from film festivals and possibly film premiers, to showcases for the work of TU students, choir performances by young school children, educational activities and live concerts for music lovers over 40 and the introduction of local musicians.

People would be coming and going 18 hours a day and the station would be actively promoting the events at all times, he said.

“We’d be the place that (major film producers) are going to want to show their films,” Yasko said.

The station is owned by Towson University which, in turn, is owned by the state, which has deep pockets.

“There are a whole lot of things that need to be done to this building,” Kiefaber said, noting his “unabashed enthusiasm” for  WTMD’s proposal. “It needs to be  owned by a nonprofit that can raise the funds to restore it for generations in the future.”

Enoch Cook, the CEO of the Baltimore-based theater consulting firm, Noch Noch Productions, also proposed a wide range of uses for The Senator.

His plan called for “a combination of live performance and cinemplex, simulating a staged vaudeville review to attract interest in puppetry and  puppeteers emphasizing a broad state level favoring a live muppet show followed by a film.”

When asked, Cook declined to reveal his financial resources. Yasko and the Mt. Vernon-based JR Owens Corp. also did not provide the numbers the audience could have used to assess the vialibity of proposed projects.

J.R. Owens, on the other hand, said his submission at this stage was more an idea than a proposal, and it didn’t warrant costing out until he knew the concept interested BDC.

Owens’ concept was the addition of three floors of 24 two-bedroom apartments beside and building with parking in the basement, as well as the renovation of the theater.

“It has the best chance of evolving into a self sustaining enterprise,” said designer Tony Freitag. “Our thought is having a movie theater by itself is not enough.”

It would create an alternative revenue stream, stability, short- and long-term employment and augment the municipal tax base through the tenants and the increase in business in the surround area, he said.

But the proposal doesn’t focus on a plan for the theater itself.

James “Buzz” Cusack, who with his daughter, Kathleen, owns the Charles Theatre, was the only presenter who could, or would, talk numbers.

The Cusack plan would keep The Senator as a single-screen theater and renovate it, adding a tapas restaurant to the building, similar to the one at the Charles that helped revive the theater, and a  crepe eatery as well.

Cusack might add a second screen just south of the building if he can find a user for its second floor, he said, noting he has had conversations with a child care facility.

But showing the art films that the Charles shows would not be financially feasible at The Senator, which would feature first run films, including blockbusters, he said.

The plan would takes about $1.6 million, he said. The funding would come from $400,000 in equity, a $600,000 loan, a $100,000 grant, $450,000 generated by tax credits and $100,000 from BDC.

Cusack, who has been in construction for 25 years, said he could complete the project by December of 2010.

The BDC has convened an advisory panel of about a dozen representatives of local community, business and advocacy groups to choose one of the four proposals to recommend to the BDC project committee, which, in turn, will make a recommendation to the BDC board, Mitchell said.

Eventually the board will make a recommendation to the mayor, who will make the final decision, Mitchell said.

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