Real Estate Scene '06Search NoticesSearch NoticesPost a NoticePost a NoticeProduction ListingsProduction ListingsHeadshot and Reel DatabaseHeadshot and Reel DatabaseCasting FAQCasting FAQREGIONSREGIONSNew York CityNew York CityLos AngelesLos AngelesNortheastNortheastSoutheastSoutheastMidwestMidwestWestWestPacific CoastPacific CoastTOPICSTOPICSFilmFilmStageStageUnionsUnionsTV/Video/MultimediaTV/Video/MultimediaOther News & ObitsOther News & ObitsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsFeaturesFeaturesColumnsColumnsTheatre ReviewsTheatre ReviewsBlogs - CuesBlogs - CuesBlogs - CutsBlogs - CutsMessage BoardMessage BoardScam AlertsScam AlertsCommunity PicsCommunity PicsBack Stage BulletinsBack Stage BulletinsHelpful LinksHelpful LinksDirectoryDirectoryRoss ReportsRoss ReportsBack Stage BooksBack Stage BooksShop Back StageShop Back StageGetting StartedGetting StartedTrainingTrainingCareersCareersPromoting YourselfPromoting YourselfUnionsUnionsActing as a BusinessActing as a Business _ SEARCH: Advanced Search » Search Back Stage Search the web January 17, 2006 SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | SAVED ARTICLES | REPRINTS Real Estate Scene '06 May Look Much Like '05 January 05, 2006 By Leonard Jacobs Broadway, for all its power, prestige, and impact on our culture and economy, is still a community, like Off- and Off-Off-Broadway. When a theatre or an industry-driven business is threatened by, or falls victim to, New York City's superheated real estate market, the community tends to notice, worry, and rally. When all else fails, it mourns. For some, 2005 will be recalled as a year in which much noticing, worrying, and mourning occurred. And 2006 seems poised to heighten those emotions. Consider the high-profile threat facing the Broadway Dance Center. Not only does the organization, founded in 1984, sport the word Broadway in its name, it possesses a great Broadway provenance: Thousands of hoofers, including scores of Radio City Rockettes, theatre legends, and gypsies, have trained and taught there. On Nov. 23, The New York Times reported that the center is mired in a legal battle with its landlord, the Extell Development Company, to keep its space at 221 West 57th St. Extell purchased the building and an adjacent site last June for a reported $67.5 million, the Times said, adding that the center's lease expires in 2012. Allison Ellner, the center's chief executive officer and director, said Extell offered her $1 million to leave but she declined, with relocation costs estimated at $3.4 million. Franklyn Snitow, an attorney for Extell, ominously noted that it would operate the building as long as "there are existing valid leases for the premises." To this end, the Times reported, the Broadway Dance Center, on Sept. 9, "received a notice from Extell that they were in default of their lease for not having a public-assembly permit and that if the problem was not addressed within five days, their lease would be canceled." The center took legal action that staved off Extell's threat, but Ellner seemed to acknowledge what the owner of the property is ultimately aiming for. "I get that a high-rise has to go up," she was quoted as saying. "I get that this is a great view of Central Park. But we're not rich enough to move ourselves. We're barely rich enough to defend ourselves." Yet by raising the question of whether the center's lease would continue to be viewed as "valid," Extell kicked the community into high gear. A noisy, press-seeking Dec. 1 rally drew some 150 people. In a Dec. 15 op-ed piece in Back Stage, writer-dancer Bonnie E. Erickson railed against "a mercenary real estate developer" whose priorities run counter to training the next generation of Broadway dancers. Midtown fears were heard downtown: On Dec. 7, the New York City Council held the third in a series of hearings, called "In Search of a Blueprint for a Cultural Community: Strategies to Address the Issues Facing the Performing Arts Community in New York City," and Alan Eisenberg, executive director of Actors' Equity Association, noted in blunt testimony how the Broadway Dance Center had come to symbolize the scene: "Not-for-profit companies cannot afford rehearsal and performance space in the city. Real estate prices are skyrocketing and landowners are turning to businesses that can afford to pay the prices they demand while pushing out the not-for-profits. A perfect example of this is the Broadway Dance Center, where thousands of dancers take classes—including people like Brooke Shields. The center has moved twice in its 25-year history and now, once again, faces closing." Indeed, much of the focus of the council's hearings was on the lack of affordable real estate—spaces for performers to perform in and to live in. The dilemma is dismaying in light of some astounding data cited by arts advocates in their testimony: Attendance at nonprofit performances reached 25.6 million in 2004, while the city boasts approximately 2,095 arts and cultural institutions, 150,000 individual artists, and more than 2,000 commercial arts businesses and professionals. Yet the hearings repeatedly noted how the city lacks a coherent policy toward the arts in general and the performing arts in particular. In reporting the testimony of Robert Yesselman, director of Dance/NYC, a City Council briefing paper noted his contention that for 50 years succeeding generations of performing artists "have colonized and improved neighborhoods, only to be eventually displaced," and that "the continuous lack of affordable living space…[is] threatening the city's cultural preeminence." It isn't that there's a shortage of ideas for remedying the crisis. Eisenberg, for example, encouraged the City Council to provide money for initiatives to "turn raw and unused space into performance-related venues" and to encourage theatre construction. Norma P. Munn, chairperson of the New York City Arts Coalition, advocated property tax credits for landlords who rent to performing arts groups and the creation of a cultural land trust through which groups could own their own property. What action the City Council is prepared to take, however, remains unclear. So real estate developers keep developing. For example, there is the question of what will become of a plot of land on West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth avenues. Last November, Actors' Equity Association announced it would oppose the efforts of the site's developer, the Related Companies, to build an 1,800-seat venue for Cirque du Soleil as part of a skyscraper condominium complex. Previously located on the site were two Off-Broadway theatres, the Douglas Fairbanks and the John Houseman, as well as a six-story renovated tenement at 432 West 42nd St. that held six floors of theatres and theatre-oriented spaces, all now demolished. Equity's opposition came after Related and its chairman and CEO, Stephen M. Ross, applied to the New York City Planning Commission to build the complex to a 60-story height and to amend the "theatre bonus"—a city zoning rule designed to foster the construction of theatres on the south side of 42nd Street—allowing the structure to rise even higher. A space for Cirque du Soleil, the company argued, fits the definition of a theatre. But the community, already dismayed by the demolition of the venues on West 42nd Street, soon raised its voice in objection. Fred Papert, president of the 42nd Street Development Corporation—the nonprofit group that led the rejuvenation of the block—stated in a Dec. 30 interview that Related must not be allowed to redefine the word "theatre." He warned, moreover, that if the New York City Planning Commission approved Related's plan, legal action could be taken, such as an Article 78 proceeding. According to a website dedicated to such maneuvers (www.article78.com), an Article 78 proceeding is used "to challenge action (or inaction) by agencies and officers of state and local government." And it brings the case before the New York Supreme Court. Papert also supplied Back Stage with a Dec. 14 memo, prepared by Michael S. Gruen, an attorney for the 42nd Street Development Corporation, and submitted to David Karnovsky, general counsel of the New York City Planning Commission, explaining in detail the corporation's objection to Related's proposal. The memo's language is direct: "The applicants emphasize Cirque's artistic aspirations and accomplishments, seeking to place it within an increasingly flexible public perception of 'legitimate theatre.' Legislative qualifications as to the meaning of 'legitimate theatre' make this effort problematical. But it is beside the point. If one were to concede that the Cirque is 'legitimate theatre,' its proposed accommodation would remain inconsistent with the size and character of Off-Broadway theatre and Theatre Row. The facility is enormous. Its auditorium is roughly four times that of the largest Off-Broadway house. Cirque du Soleil describes itself as spectacular entertainment deriving from the circus tradition—quite a contrast to the modest style of Theatre Row. "Finally," the memo stated, "we are aware of no evidence that the highly successful Cirque du Soleil enterprise requires a public zoning subsidy to attract it to midtown New York. To the contrary, the circumstances—particularly the fact that the space it will occupy is more than twice the size necessary to achieve the maximum bonus—suggest a commercially advantageous relationship for the developer." Curiously, Related's proposal for a theatre bonus is not the only one for the West 42nd Street site. Benjamin Kolbert, owner and president of the five Producers Club theatres on West 44th Street, stated in an interview that he has proposed building 15 to 20 Off-Off-Broadway theatres within whatever structure eventually rises. He said his proposal would cost $5 million, far less than the $150 million he believes the Cirque du Soleil venue would require. To date, he said, he has not received a response from Related, and he thinks he knows why. "Obviously, what [Related] wants to do is call Cirque du Soleil a theatre and get the bonus—and you know what that'll mean profitwise to them, with more floors to sell," Kolbert said. "But after 12 years of running the Producers Club, I have the management experience: I know how to build 15 Off-Off-Broadway theatres. And these wouldn't be 199 seats; these would be under 100 seats—where the young writers, actors, and directors can show their wares. If we can make a deal with Related, all Stephen Ross and [Related Companies president] Jeffrey Blau would do is put up $5 million. It would save them $145 million, plus they would get the same theatre bonus, plus they wouldn't antagonize anyone, like the community board. "Landlords," Kolbert continued, "are doubling and tripling their rent all over the city—where else are the theatre artists going to do their work? The trouble with Related is these are money people. To bring in Cirque du Soleil and give them $150 million—they want the city to put up that money, by the way—means nothing to them. They don't care. Those extra floors will give them a tremendous addition to their profits." Kolbert said that almost none of the recipients of his proposal—he mentioned Mayor Michael Bloomberg, three members of Community Board 4, Jeffrey Blau, and Marisa Redanty, president of the Manhattan Plaza Tenants Association—have responded. Large theatre-related organizations, such as the Broadway Dance Center, and large real estate development firms, such as the Related Companies, are not the only groups affected by New York City's rising property values. On the last business day of 2005, the Blue Heron Arts Center, a nonprofit venue at 123 East 24th St., closed. It had opened in 1999, and during its short existence over 100 theatre groups and other organizations used the 10,000-square-foot facility, which featured a 99-seat theatre, a 40-seat theatre, an art gallery, and three rehearsal studios. Reached by telephone, Ardelle Striker, artistic director of Blue Heron Theatre, the venue's parent company, stated that it was "a sad day" for Off-Off-Broadway venues like hers. Jim Baldassare, a press spokesman for Blue Heron, stated that a "significant rent increase" was one of the main factors in the decision to close up shop, and he did not believe "a theatre will go in there" in the future. It is not the only Off-Off-Broadway space facing closure in 2006. Later this winter, 750 Eighth Avenue, a building housing several theatre companies—including the New Perspectives Theatre, the Pelican Studio, the Common Basis Theatre, and Nicu's Spoon—as well as McHale's bar, a popular watering hole for theatre folk for over 50 years, will be torn down. According to a Sept. 1 report in The New York Times, Jimmy McHale, the bar's owner, has heard rumors that the property's new owners, the 46th Street Development Corporation of Parsippany, N.J., will be erecting condominiums on the site. But, oddly enough, that is just fine with Melody Brooks, who founded New Perspectives 15 years ago and remains its artistic director. In an op-ed piece published in the Dec. 29 issue of Back Stage, Brooks offered an alternative view of how the changing real estate scene is affecting the theatre industry. "The fact is that we had increasingly become landlords in order to support our spaces, resulting in a constant drain on creative energy," she wrote. "Most Off-Off-Broadway companies—even those of NPT's size and longevity—have no paid full-time staff. The passion and drive of a few key people (with the founder usually at the forefront) is what keeps things going, and when they burn out, it's over…. "Many have assumed that I would be angry at the developers who will be erecting yet another luxury condominium on the site, or saddened by our eviction," she continued. "It is a great space—one of the best black-box theatres in New York—and it would be nice to think that someone was creating theatre here. But for me and NPT, this is actually a blessing in disguise. The old saying holds true: 'When a door closes, a window opens elsewhere.' There is a new sense of freedom to venture through that window, to find a 'new perspective' on the continued production of our kind of theatre in New York City while keeping the work affordable to audiences and finding better ways to support the artists who create it. And a space is not the defining factor in this effort." Roger Armbrust contributed to this story. SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | SAVED ARTICLES | REPRINTS SUBSCRIBE TO BACKSTAGE » Related Articles » Room to Grow: How to Find Your Space Amid Skyrocketing Rents & Short Supply Oct 20, 2005 – Back Stage » B'way Dance Center Needs Your Help Dec 15, 2005 – Back Stage » Health Care, Housing Lead NYC Actors' Concerns Dec 8, 2005 – Back Stage » "NORMALCY" Oct 20, 2005 – Back Stage » Media Stars Steal Limelight at Gadget Show Jan 6, 2006 – Back Stage View more related articles more » » New York City » Northeast » West » Pacific Coast » Los Angeles » Southeast » Midwest » Film » Unions » Other News & Obits » Stage » TV / Video / Multimedia » Announcements An Evening With...Hugh Laurie January 17, 2006 'Back Stage West' will present a Q&A Hugh Laurie, the star of FOX Television's 'House', and recent Golden Globe winner for Best Actor in a Drama Series. The event will be moderated by National Film & Television Editor Jenelle Riley. 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