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Posted: 10:01 AM- Financing a 2,400-seat Broadway-style theater to anchor Salt Lake City's downtown cultural district is "practical and achievable," according to a report released to Mayor Ralph Becker this morning.
And the mayor should act "immediately" to buy one of several possible sites recommended by his Downtown Theater Action Group, the report says.
Bill Becker, the committee's pro bono captain and the mayor's Tony-award-winning brother, said in May that the top three locations are:
-- The old Utah Theater on Main Street.
-- The former Newspaper Agency Corp. building on Main Street.
-- A parking lot east of Squatters Pub Brewery across 300 South from the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.
The report also suggests:
-- A parking lot behind the Peery Hotel, 110 W. 300 South.
-- Land in the planned Camden Centre development between 100 South and 200 South and 500 West and 600 West.
-- A three-acre parcel north of the Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main St.
"We have one real chance to get this right," the study states. "Salt Lake City is the place and now is the time."
The capital, which has dreamed of a big Broadway stage for two decades, kicked into high gear in the hunt for a large playhouse after Sandy touted its plans to snag such a venue near 10000 South and Interstate 15. There, an Orem-based developer plots a $50 million-plus Broadway-style theater as part of a $560 million mixed-use project called The Proscenium.
Sandy has said it would buy the theater in a lease-to-own arrangement. It's unlikely Utah's market could support two such theaters.
The Salt Lake City group estimates construction of a downtown theater, one capable of landing first-runs of mega-hits such as "The Lion King" and "Wicked," would cost $64 million in today's dollars. The total cost, including design fees, land and cost escalation, would reach $81.5 million.
Financing could include $16 million of federal New Market Tax Credits and a city-designated Community Development Area, a redevelopment tool that would allow new property and sales taxes hatched downtown to help fund the theater. City Creek Center alone, the report notes, is anticipated to spawn $18 million of new sales tax revenue a year starting in 2012.
Other revenue streams could include facility fees and ticket surcharges, naming rights and corporate sponsorships and net operating income.
The theater committee also cautions that any funding for the new stage should not take away from existing cultural facilities.
A large playhouse annually could draw 175,000 patrons and generate $11 million in ticket sales for touring Broadway attractions. Visitors to the new venue would pump about $22 million a year into the economy, according to the report.
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