[adsw-announce] Senator Theater avoids sale
Linda Lyons (llyons@adsw.org)
Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:56:19 -0800
Dear ADSW Members and Friends,
I am happy to report that the Senator Theater successfully avoided sale
this month. The primary story in the Baltimore Sun is copied below. On
the Sun's Web site, you will find additional articles and discussions of
the theater's long-term situation and options. ADSW will continue to
follow this story and keep you informed. Please let me know if you have
any additional information or comments.
Linda B. Lyons, Education Chair & Acting Preservation Chair
For more information about the Senator Theatre, visit their web site:
http://www.senator.com/
For more information about Art Deco preservation activity, visit:
http://www.adsw.org/site/preservation/index.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.senator21feb21,0,6447006.story
Senator apparently avoids sale - Donations help make $110,000 payment
By Nick Madigan, Baltimore Sun reporter
February 21, 2007
On the brink of losing his landmark Senator Theatre, Tom Kiefaber said
last night he had raised the nearly $110,000 required to stave off
today's scheduled foreclosure auction of the 68-year-old Baltimore movie
palace.
Kiefaber - whose publicized financial travails with the Senator brought
a deluge of contributions from people eager to save it from the fate of
many single-screen theaters around the country, said he had presented a
bank representative with certified checks last night for the amount owed.
The receipt from attorney C. Larry Hofmeister Jr. listed three checks
totaling $109,828.64, and stated that this afternoon's auction "has been
cancelled."
"It wouldn't have happened without this dramatic outpouring of support
for The Senator Theatre," Kiefaber said after e-mailing to The Sun a
copy of the slip of paper from Hofmeister, an attorney retained by 1st
Mariner Bank, which holds the mortgage.
Yesterday afternoon, nostalgic patrons arrived for what they feared
might be one of the final screenings at the Senator - Music and Lyrics,
a romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.
Some dropped cash and envelopes with checks into a pair of metal
film-reel canisters on the sidewalk by the box office. The canisters
were emblazoned with the acronym S.O.S. in red letters, for Save Our
Senator.
Other contributions have been raining into a PayPal account set up
through the theater's Web site after The Sun reported Feb. 6 that
Kiefaber - whose maternal grandfather opened the Senator in 1939 - was
$90,000 in arrears on the $1.2 million mortgage he took out with 1st
Mariner five years ago.
The figure had since risen because of lawyers' fees and other costs
associated with the auction, fees for which Kiefaber is liable,
according to Eugene A. Friedman, the bank's in-house counsel.
Yesterday evening, before Kiefaber announced he had met the goal,
Friedman said the bank had no intention of exercising its right to call
in the entire $1.2 million loan as long as the owner came up with the
past-due sum and related fees.
He said he knew of "several interested parties" who were due in
Baltimore today for the auction, including some from New York and
representatives of Arlington Cinema and Draft House, a theater in
Arlington, Va., that serves food and drink, and features live music,
comedy acts and "family-friendly" events, according to its Web site.
By early evening, the 54-year-old Kiefaber said he was about $4,000
short of his goal but was hoping that a flood of last-minute
contributions would save the day.
"I don't want this to be a dramatic, 11th-hour spectacle, saving the
theater just before the auction," Kiefaber said at the Senator,
occasionally interrupted by patrons pressing money into his hands. "I
have every intention of making the payment before the auction starts."
Some in a sparse audience attending the 5:30 p.m. screening of Music and
Lyrics said they were there because it might have been their last chance
to see a movie at the Senator - assuming that a buyer might not continue
using the building on York Road to show films.
"We make a point of coming here because the Senator itself is a draw for
us," said Jeff Walen, a real estate agent and a Baltimore County schools
physical education teacher, who attended with his wife.
Walen said he had been watching movies at the Senator for 20 years.
In the afternoon, they checked the theater's Web site to see how the
fundraising was going - then $6,000 short - and decided to lend support.
So did Joyce Ohl, an area resident who said she had been going to the
Senator since 1980.
"I gave $100, and I've encouraged my friends to do that," said Ohl. "The
theater just means so much to our community. I would hate for it to go
away. We're movie buffs."
But, in a clear indication of the obstacles faced by the 900-seat
theater, a count of patrons at the 5:30 screening showed just 40.
Upstairs, in a meeting room rented out for special events, a party was
being held.
In the lobby, Tom and Pat Jenkins said they had had their first date at
the Senator in about 1961. The movie was The Apartment, starring Jack
Lemmon.
"It is Americana," Pat Jenkins said, looking around the ornate circular
lobby with frescoes of images from entertainment history. "It's a
wonderful place to come."
---------------------------------------------------------------
ADSW Winter, Spring, and Summer Calendar
March 20: Lord & Taylor Benefit Bash
http://www.adsw.org/event/2007/LordAndTaylor/index.html
March 25: Tour of “Modernism” Exhibit at the Corcoran
http://www.adsw.org/event/2007/ModernismTour/index.html
April 22: 11th Annual Art Deco Bus Tour
http://www.adsw.org/event/2007/DecoBusTour/index.html
June 23-24: 2007 Art Deco Expo
http://www.adsw.org/event/2007/Expo/index.html
All current, past, and outside events:
http://www.adsw.org/event/index.html
For more information about the Art Deco Society of Washington,
visit www.adsw.org.
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to
adsw-announce-request@adsw.org with this command in the message body:
unsubscribe