Thomas MacMillan Photo
After nearly two decades with an ownership stake in the Shubert, the city took a step Monday night toward handing the theater off to new owners.
Economic Development Administrator Kelly Murphy officially submitted to the Board of Aldermen a proposed deal that would transfer the 98-year-old theater to the not-for-profit that has been managing it for nearly 10 years, the Connecticut Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA).
The plan is now headed to an aldermanic committee for consideration ahead of a vote by the full board. Board of Aldermen President Jorge Perez said before Monday night’s aldermanic meeting that he hadn’t yet decided which committee to send the proposal to.
The city has had some degree of ownership of the Shubert for about two decades, and has owned the theater outright for over 10 years. The building hasn’t been renovated in nearly 30 years and is need of about $7 million in repairs. The city pays an annual subsidy to the theater — $249,000 this year, down from $456,000 in 2006. The city helped two private developers, the Fusco Corporation and Joel Schiavone, renovate (and reopen) the theater and other nearby buildings to jump-start what would become a successful “new-urbanist” downtown revival.
Under the proposed new deal, the city would give CAPA the theater along with $3 million. CAPA would then raise the remaining $4 million for repairs through some combination of grants, private donations, and state and federal assistance, said John Fisher, Shubert’s executive director. The city’s annual subsidy would taper down to zero over the next 10 years.
The deal has a number of advantages for both parties, said city spokeswoman Anna Mariotti: The city wouldn’t be on the hook for $7 million in repairs, and the theater could raise funds as a free-standing organization in ways that it can’t under city ownership, like by creating an endowment.
Economic development officer Chris Canna said the move is part of a national trend. Lots of municipalities that took over struggling theaters are now handing them over to not-for-profits, he said.
“We think it’s a very good idea,” Fisher said before Monday night’s meeting. The plan would “relieve the city and the taxpayers of the burden of the building.”
He said the building needs a new fire escape, renovated stairwells, new heating and air-conditioning systems, and repointing of its brickwork.
Downtown Alderman Doug Hausladen, who counted the Shubert as part of his ward until recent redistricting, said he thinks the plan is a good one, so long as the theater remains “a publicly accessible and available building.”
The theater needs some major work, he said. “Removing that liability from our balance sheet is probably a good thing.”
A royal screwing for the City taxpayer over the past years, but probably this is for the best in the long run.
If only the City had not believed promises of the "Ahhts" community 30 or so years ago that a rebuild and a couple of years subsidy by the City would allow the Shubert to become self- supporting
When that promise was finally recognized as BS, if only the City hadn't bought the phony idea that taking over its ownership would make everything OK---the taxpayers would have really saved a bundle.
Now, it has been officially deemed worth absolutely nothing, but this new proposal may at least save the taxpayers a few bucks for a few years until the Ahhts folk sell another fallacy to City leaders/
Note to Editors if you do not like the word "screwed".. how about "bamboozled" ?
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