Stringer wrote:
Jersey City Wants to Transform Loew's Into Concert Venue

Officials are Seeking Operator That Could Attract National Music Acts

The Wall Street Journal
Feb. 2, 2014

Jersey City is moving forward with turning the historic Loew's Jersey Theatre into a concert venue.

Officials are seeking an operator that could help attract national music acts to the city-owned movie house as well as help reinvigorate the surrounding Journal Square neighborhood, which has seen far less development than the city's eastern sections.

The city would engage in a profit-sharing agreement with a management company, said Mayor Steve Fulop.

Built in 1929, the ornate theater was set to be demolished in the 1980s but was saved through the efforts of a nonprofit organization, Friends of the Loew's. The group holds revival movie screenings at the theater, which seats 3,021 but isn't fully used because it needs safety upgrades.

The request for bids is set to be issued Monday and the deadline for submissions is March 19. A copy of the request viewed by The Wall Street Journal calls for the operator to book at least 20 music concerts, 10 theatrical productions, 10 comedy performances and 50 community and other types of events.

The Friends of the Loew's will be able to hold 20 performances, according to the document. The group had raised concerns last year over an outside firm taking over management of the Loew's.

?Heather Haddon

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/S ... 04579359221532462240.html

Stringer wrote:
Jersey City Wants to Transform Loew's Into Concert Venue

Officials are Seeking Operator That Could Attract National Music Acts

The Wall Street Journal
Feb. 2, 2014

Jersey City is moving forward with turning the historic Loew's Jersey Theatre into a concert venue.

Officials are seeking an operator that could help attract national music acts to the city-owned movie house as well as help reinvigorate the surrounding Journal Square neighborhood, which has seen far less development than the city's eastern sections.

The city would engage in a profit-sharing agreement with a management company, said Mayor Steve Fulop.

Built in 1929, the ornate theater was set to be demolished in the 1980s but was saved through the efforts of a nonprofit organization, Friends of the Loew's. The group holds revival movie screenings at the theater, which seats 3,021 but isn't fully used because it needs safety upgrades.

The request for bids is set to be issued Monday and the deadline for submissions is March 19. A copy of the request viewed by The Wall Street Journal calls for the operator to book at least 20 music concerts, 10 theatrical productions, 10 comedy performances and 50 community and other types of events.

The Friends of the Loew's will be able to hold 20 performances, according to the document. The group had raised concerns last year over an outside firm taking over management of the Loew's.

?Heather Haddon

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/S ... 04579359221532462240.html

VA2015 wrote:

Quote:

nafco wrote:This is why I and others suggest making the key FOL people with most experience full time staff, with the addition of professional (individuals, not a "management company") to fill in the other needed areas that FOL people may lack. A full time staff of skilled people would be a world of difference, just not a management conglomerate who is only in it to make their own profit, and which would totally block out community involvement/input at all.

I agree with this. FOL should head up the restoration efforts but they need a Program Manager/Marketing type person to handle things like booking bands and providing programming. Having worked with them, it is clear that preservation is their #1 priority and event production is a far second at best.

Another thing - why is the place not open for tours, at least on weekends? I know they do work on it a lot but that can be part of it - "see a theater being restored live." I could see them getting all the local school groups to come.

nafco wrote:This is why I and others suggest making the key FOL people with most experience full time staff, with the addition of professional (individuals, not a "management company") to fill in the other needed areas that FOL people may lack. A full time staff of skilled people would be a world of difference, just not a management conglomerate who is only in it to make their own profit, and which would totally block out community involvement/input at all.

OneSkirt wrote:

Keep in mind, FOL is a group of very active volunteers. But they are volunteers, so their time is limited. But they are devoted and knowledgeable (they also manage the space rentals for weddings, etc. which also bring them income - its booked a lot for that which is another reason there isn't programming every single weekend, an d they do maintenance/repair projects on Saturdays as well around all this). This is why I and others suggest making the key FOL people with most experience full time staff, with the addition of professional (individuals, not a "management company") to fill in the other needed areas that FOL people may lack. A full time staff of skilled people would be a world of difference, just not a management conglomerate who is only in it to make their own profit, and which would totally block out community involvement/input at all.

nafco wrote:
Though i would never discredited the hard work of the the FOL, i do believe that they may be overwhelmed to run the theater to its full potential. If they can't host anything for half the year due to the theater having no AC, then they should be running events, movies and concerts every day of the week in the winter to create revenue. The website they have shows a spattering of events, sometimes just 1 or 2 a month. They know that when they show a movie like Big Lebowski or the Princess Bride, it is a packed house in comparison to some older movies they show. Not saying they can't keep the older stuff, but focus on the audience thats coming and keep up with promoting the movies and it will boost the theater to a new place.

SilveryJessica wrote:
I used to run many NJ venues. It is not comparable market-wise to the Mayo Center or bergenPAC because it is three times the size of those venues. I would hate to see a LiveNation et al take over but in their defense, they do have access to tours that smaller independent venues a lot of times do not. The Loews is also considered part of the NYC advertising and exclusivity markets, which further hampers access to anything that is booked into, say, the Beacon. However, a talented leadership team can find ways to mitigate those losses with strategic programming choices. Making a relatively small investment by JC in a venue like this will pay for itself a hundred times over with a little patience. The community stake in venues such as this cannot be discounted. It's essential that the community remain the primary stakeholder or else it will not succeed. There are only so many nights people from elsewhere are willing to come to Jersey City to pay $50-250, and with 3000+ seats to fill, it can't sit empty on Tuesdays either. Case in point is the Wellmont in Montclair which started off strong but is now having a hard time.

ConstantReader wrote:
...but first you have to get them to cross the river....

OneSkirt wrote:

Exactly why I am against taking this approach. Also, a company like LiveNation or MSG (who runs the Beacon) is in it to make a profit for themselves only, a very big one. Ticket prices and the tacked on service fees will get astronomical. They will control all programming, leaving no room for community groups to use the space or for the GS Organ Society to hold concerts in addition to larger booked acts. We need this to run as a non-profit with a skilled, professional staff (which includes key FOL people) like an NJPAC or a BAM not by an entertainment conglomerate.

ConstantReader wrote:
Agreed, Friends of the Loews has more than earned a place at the table, preferably the head of the table. The group not only saved the building in the first place, they built the theater into a vital part of Jersey City's burgeoning local arts scene. Perhaps the theater hasn't reached its full potential as a venue yet--but imagine what could be done if the ongoing renovation were fully completed, with air conditioning allowing year-round programming.

A professional management company would mean higher ticket prices for events. Are there enough theater- or concert-goers in Jersey City willing to pay $35, $50, $75 for a ticket? NYC audiences will do that?but first you have to get them to cross the river....

JerseyCityFrankie wrote:
Regarding development of the area and money allocated for the Loew?s, I certainly hope the city will allow a place at the table for the Friends of the Loew?s organization when the money starts to get spent. The Friends of the Loew?s have been on the job all this time, when NOBODY ELSE HAS and it would be very unfair to take it away from them now that there is some money in the pipeline. Through a couple of administrations the Friends have hung in there making steady progress on the cinema restoration and providing virtually the ONLY culture venue for the entire neighborhood. I have heard people snipe at how things get done, or the pace of how things get done at the Loew?s, but on the other hand without the Friends of the Loew?s volunteers NOTHING would have been done with that unique jewel of a building and it would have been demolished ten years ago. Truffle pigs do all the work finding the truffles but at the last minute the truffle is taken away, lets not take the Loew?s away from the people who have demonstrated that their hearts have been in the right place all along

07310 wrote:
The Theater needs a professional management group such as the group that manages the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Only then will it reach its potential as an entertainment venue.

Restoring the theater is expected to cost $3.4 million to get it up to code, and $21 million to fully renovate it, according to city figures. The city is considering bonding for much of the rest of the cost.