Where one city agency sees protection others see interference.

During a meeting Wednesday at the Senator Theater about the historic theater’s immediate future it was clear that the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation made an unpopular decision to place the theater’s interior on a special protective list.

Tom Kiefaber, the owner of the Senator Theatre, Kim Clarke, executive vice president of the Baltimore Development Corporation, and State Senator Joan Carter Conway all called the addition of the Senator to CHAP’s Public Interior Special List a roadblock to the financially troubled theater being sold. Kiefaber owes First Mariner Bank, the mortgage holder, $950,000.

“We thought the CHAP designation was unnecessary and ill timed,” Clarke said.

The special list is a stopgap measure that requires any owner of the theater to seek CHAP approval before it can alter the building’s interior while the Planning Department and the City Council consider whether or not to name it to Baltimore City’s Public Interior Landmark List.

“I perceive (the designation) as a barrier to get the dollars we need for the property,” Conway said.

Kiefaber, during the CHAP hearing last week and during Wednesday’s meeting, said CHAP’s actions scared away two parties that were interested in buying the Senator earlier this year.

Had those negotiations come to fruition, the entire debate about whether public dollars should be used to secure the theater would be moot, Kiefaber said.

This winter, the city offered Kiefaber a loan of $320,000 to sign the theater over to a nonprofit pending the recommendation to Mayor Sheila Dixon from a working group that included politicians, real estate agents and nonprofits.

The working group decided the theater would not work as a nonprofit and recommended the city purchase the theater’s note from 1st Mariner Bank.  The mayor agreed to the plan and the city will wire $950,000 on Friday to 1st Mariner Bank to purchase the theater’s note.

During the meeting Kiefaber said the same two parties that were interested in purchasing the property might be interested in buying the property at the foreclosure auction the city intends to hold in about four to five weeks.

It is crucial to the survival of the theater as an entertainment venue that it is purchased by a private owner, Kiefaber said.

“The city should not own and operate movie theaters or theaters at all,” he said.

City officials still aren’t convinced that a private owner will spend $1 million at auction in the current depressed market for a building with $400,000 in deferred maintenance.

The city is already beginning to the process of drafting a Request For Proposal, or RFP, the city will send out seeking an entity to purchase or lease the property if it is not bought at auction, Clarke said.

City Councilman Bill Henry, who represents the York Road corridor, still defends CHAP’s decision to add the theater to the special protection list and said the action represents the will of the surrounding communities.

Anyone who wants to see the theater remain an entertainment venue should support its addition to the special list, he said.

Henry acknowledged the timing of CHAP’s actions may not have been perfect, but said CHAP had the theater’s best interests in mind.

“Interior protection prevents someone from chopping the place up,” he said. 

---

user comments (3)

user tharris says...

The problem (& the point), Councilman Henry, is that if CHAP has the power to do this without the owner's consent, they could have done it at any time... Like AFTER the new owner has taken over & announced intentions to radically change the interior. BUT, this is the SECOND time CHAP has announced intention to put controls on the interior & the SECOND time they've scuttled negotiations that could have made all this time/trouble moot! No city money would have been needed to buy the 1st Mariner note, file for foreclosure, advertise for its auction, pay for the BDC to do its RFP, etc., etc. Bottom Line, Folks: If CHAP had kept its nose out of the Senator, it is likely it would _already_ have a new owner (who, I understand intended to keep it as a theatre) & without the city spending a dime.

Posted 8:09 AM, 05.21.09

• Permalink

user jaygee says...

The Senator is the first property to have this interior restriction imposed on it. What is to stop CHAP from imposing that same designation on any city property that is "aesthetically and historically signifcant"? Whether residential or commercial? I own city property near Fells Point and like a lot of other properties it is 100 years old or nearly. Why would anyone buy or continue to own city property if some group could arbitrarily decide what I can do with it? Even if someone fights and wins against the designation, think of the time and resources spent needlessly? What's next? Your house or Mine?

Posted 11:14 AM, 05.22.09

• Permalink

user tinyavenger1 says...

It's really not all that surprising that CHAP suddenly springs up when the theatre is vulunerable. THEY HAD THE SAME "IRONIC" TIMING back in 2007 as well. Bob Embry is on the CHAP board and has had personal grudges with the theatre owner for a number of years now. Bob Embry grant in 199 to replace the theatre's air conditioning. Bob also made the arrangements for the state loan as well. Bob Embry is openly known as the prime mover driving the CHAP restrictions. In 2007, when the payments were being made to First Mariner which stopped the foreclosure proceedings, it was Bob Embry who at that time was on the phone (while the payments were being made) trying to pressure the bank to NOT ACCEPT THE FUNDS SO THE FORECLOSURE WOULD CONTINUE. He abstained from voting at the 2009 CHAP hearing, only AFTER his numerous conflicts of interest were brought into the open. However, these same issues were there in 2007 and he certainly DIDN'T abstain from participating and voting then. (This is a clear violation of CHAP guidelines to have conflicts of interest) Bob Embry has been friends since childhood and has been business partners with David Cordish. David Cordish is "rumored" to be the person bidding on the theatre at auction. During the CHAP hearing in 2009, Bob Embry actually placed his hands behind his head, eleaned back and "napped" when the owner and other citizens spoke. The CHAP commission had already met and voted on the issue prior to the public hearing. It's beyond time for Mr. Embry to continue to hide in the shadows with regard to The Senator issue. Time for Mr. Embry to come out of the closet....

Posted 10:09 PM, 05.23.09

• Permalink