Baltimore's 71-year-old Senator Theatre will either continue as a full-time movie venue or morph into a performing-arts center and home to Towson University's WTMD radio, officials of the agency charged with mapping its future announced today.
"We felt that these were the most comprehensive proposals," said Kimberly Clark, executive director of the Baltimore Development Corp., which had received four proposals from individuals or companies interested in operating the Senator. The theater had been purchased by the city in July, with the promise that it would continue operating as an anchor for the surrounding community, including the subsidized and heavily promoted Belvedere Square business district.
One proposal, from Charles Theatre owner James "Buzz" Cusack, would preserve the Senator as a full-time movie theater. Cusack's plans call for restaurants on both sides of the theater, in much the same way as the Charles is flanked by Tapas Teatro to the south and Sofi's Crepes to the north.
The second proposal, submitted by Towson University and WTMD, would transform the Senator into a performing arts center similar to Philadelphia's World Cafe, a joint effort between a private company (Real Entertainment Group) and Philly's public radio station, WXPN.
By focusing on the Cusack and Towson proposals, BDC officials nixed plans that would have surrounded the venerable 900-seat theater with condominiums or turned it into a privately run entertainment facility offering a wide range of prospective uses, including a puppet theater and Sunday gospel services.
The BDC plans to ask for more detailed financial information on the two remaining proposals, Clark said, before deciding between them.
A 10-member review committee, including many residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, had been studying the proposals since they were submitted in December, and those from Cusack and Towson were the clear favorites, Clark said. "They really are making an attempt at digging deep into these proposals," she said. "This is at the heart of their community. They care a ton."
The committee, which is scheduled to begin meeting again next month, could recommend one proposal over the other, Clark said, or leave that decision up to the BDC. A final decision on the Senator's future could be made as early as March, she said.