The city of Baltimore wants the Senator Theatre's former owner, Tom Kiefaber, out of the theater by Sunday.
Kiefaber, who has booked the "Twilight" franchise film "Eclipse" to open two days later, believes the city is giving him a "shove out the door," he says in an open letter to Chief Solicitor Larry Jenkins. He is not going without a fight. He writes that he might "remove and protect" the theater's sound and projection equipment.
Kiefaber has been running the Senator on a month-to-month basis since April 13, according to a licensing agreement with the city.
In the letter to Jenkins, Kiefaber contends that the request for termination violates that agreement. He believes that the city has moved to install the Senator's prospective new owners, Buzz and Kathleen Cusack, "prematurely, before the public or the [Board of Estimates] have had an opportunity to scrutinize and approve [the Cusacks'] plan."
The contract between Kiefaber and the city, obtained Tuesday by The Baltimore Sun, spells out that the city could terminate the lease upon 10 days' written notice once it made "an award" of the theater.
Jenkins said Tuesday that "the selection of Mr. Cusack and his daughter as the selected party under the city's Request for Proposals constitutes an award."
On June 11, the Baltimore Development Corp. said that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had accepted its recommendation for the BDC to negotiate exclusively for the Senator with the Cusacks. Jenkins says he sent notice to Kiefaber "on the 10th of June and asked him to surrender possession as of June 27."
Kiefaber writes that he was operating under the assumption that his license would be terminated only after the 90 days reserved by the BDC for final negotiations with the Cusacks.
Among many allegations, Kiefaber's letter accuses the BDC of conducting a corrupt proposal process and argues that his swift departure would disrupt booked attractions and events.
Kiefaber's letter also indicates that because the state, not the city, has asserted that it has liens on most of the theater's state-of-the-art equipment, he "may be obligated to remove and protect" it on the state's behalf.
It ends with a plea that "a new Senator Theatre operator not be installed" before the negotiations are completed and the plan approved by the Board of Estimates.