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Deal redraws urban arts map

The location of several arts organizations will shuffle under the complex plan.

By MELANIE AVE
Published January 19, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - St. Petersburg College will become home to a new downtown arts hub in a $25-million deal unveiled Thursday and described by Mayor Rick Baker as a "multilevel jigsaw puzzle."

The complicated deal involving the college, the city, the Palladium Theater, American Stage and the Florida Orchestra further cements the mayor's desire to transform downtown St. Petersburg into an urban arts center.

It also advances St. Petersburg College's presence downtown, broadens its arts education programs and, potentially, taps into government university dollars and funnels them to strengthening local arts.

Key to the deals is SPC President Carl Kuttler.

"If you look at what's there, it's pretty, pretty exciting," Kuttler said at a last-minute news conference at the Palladium called after word began spreading about the deal. "We'll bring it to fruition."

Under the various agreements:

- St. Petersburg College will take over the Palladium Theater from the non-profit group that now runs it. The college will operate the theater with an endowment fund created by a $3-million donation from theater board member William R. Hough and his wife, Hazel, and a $2-million state matching grant.

The theater will continue to offer community theater as well as college productions.

- American Stage will sell its downtown theater for $1-million to Vector Realty and relocate to a new 150-to 200-seat theater on land owned by the college that is now home to empty storefronts across from Williams Park at Third Street and First Avenue N.

The American Stage property at 211 Third St. S will become a mixed used office condominium and All Suites hotel.

- The Florida Orchestra is also considering moving its headquarters from Tampa to the college's downtown center at 244 Second Ave. N and making the Palladium its main rehearsal hall.

The orchestra's original plan to build office space in a building next to the Mahaffey Theater on St. Petersburg's waterfront hit a snag last month when construction estimates came in $1-million more than expected.

The orchestra will continue to perform at the newly renovated Mahaffey, Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, where its office lease expires at year's end.

Meets many needs

Baker said the dealmaking grew out of the various needs of the three arts groups.

Hough, of the Palladium, said he was approached by American Stage about a joint venture in November after he was told its leaky, 148-seat theater was being sold.

"I said, 'Why don't we talk to SPC,' " he said. "It all kind of coalesced."

Kuttler said he will recommend his board of trustees approve the deal Monday.

"I'm optimistic," said Kuttler, who has a fondness for partnerships because "you get a lot more for the money."

SPC brings strengths

By bringing SPC on board, the arts groups get access to state matching funds available through the university system.

The 880-seat Palladium on Fifth Avenue N at Third Street, formerly a church built in 1925, has relied on private donations since opening in 1999.

For Hough, one of the theater's original founders, SPC's ownership gives the venue a more stable future that allows it to continue as a venue for the city's community arts programs.

Under the agreement, the Palladium Theater Inc. will give the theater, two parking lots and a vacant lot - valued at $8.2-million to $10.5-million - to the SPC foundation. The foundation will also pay off an outstanding $450,000 debt on one of the properties.

The theater's seven full time workers will become SPC employees and the college will take on the facility's $500,000 annual operating cost.

In another part of the jigsaw puzzle, SPC will loan $2-million to American Stage, a 28-year-old professional theater company.

American Stage board chairman Don Shea said the theater will sell its current venue for $1-million within 45 days to Vector and immediately pay back SPC $1-million. Within a year, it will raise another $1-million to repay the remaining debt.

Matching grant likely

Kuttler said that money will garner a $2-million state matching grant that will be used to build the new theater near Williams Park.

"There's a little risk out there," Kuttler said, "but not much at all."

The most uncertain of the deals is the one involving the Florida Orchestra.

Jeff Lyash, who chairs the orchestra's operations committee, said the orchestra wants to make sure the Palladium's stage can be expanded and its acoustics would work for rehearsals before agreeing to the deal.

Orchestra to take look

Orchestra officials will tour SPC and the Palladium on Friday. A final decision, Lyash said, is weeks not months away.

"It's a very positive prospect," said James Gillespie, the orchestra's board chairman, "and we haven't closed on it yet. It's that simple."

Kuttler said 10,000-square feet of offices for the orchestra could be built within six months on the third floor of SPC's building and a new theater constructed within a year.

He also said a joint ticket booth for the Palladium, American Stage and Florida Orchestra could be built on the SPC property.

"In 30 days, this will start," Kuttler said. "If everybody approves, architects will start in 30 days."

Melanie Ave can be reached at 727 893-8813 or mave@sptimes.com.

THE DEAL AT A GLANCE

St. Petersburg College

- Takes ownership of the Palladium Theater from its nonprofit owner.

- Builds and leases American Stage a new theater at its downtown campus for nominal electric and custodial costs.

- Loans American Stage $2-million.

- Builds 10,000-square-foot of office space for Florida Orchestra's headquarters at its downtown campus for electric and custodial fees.

- Allows the orchestra to use the Palladium as its rehearsal hall after the stage is expanded and proper acoustics are confirmed.

American Stage

- Sells its 142-seat theater for $1-million to Vector Realty in 45 days.

- Its current theater becomes a mixed-used office space and hotel.

- Relocates to a yet-to-be built 150-to-200-seat modern theater on SPC's downtown campus, potentially within a year.

- Repays SPC a $2-million that will be used to garner $2-million in state matching funds that will be used to construct a new theater.

Florida Orchestra

- Takes $2-million in donations originally planned for the orchestra's offices at the Mahaffey

- Relocates its headquarters from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa to available office space on the SPC downtown campus.

- Makes the Palladium its main rehearsal hall and instrument storage facility.

City of St. Petersburg

- Aborts a deal with the Florida Orchestra to relocate its offices to the Mahaffey Theater.

[Last modified January 19, 2007, 00:36:40]