Title
Staff Report for an Update on the Status of the Selection Process for a Potential Lessee of the Theater at the Helen Lawrence Building
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This report is for information only.
BACKGROUND
The theatre at the Helen Lawrence Building at 999 East 14th Street was leased by the California Conservatory Theatre (CCT) from 1998 until 2012. In October 2012, Curtain Call Performing Arts, Inc. (CCPA) was added as a party to CCT's lease due to financial difficulties that prevented CCT from fulfilling its lease obligations of providing fifty live theatrical productions per calendar year. Upon expiration of the original lease term, in June 2013, the City entered into a five year lease with CCPA, with the continued mandate to provide fifty live theatrical productions per year.
In February 2014, staff received information that the theatre was vacated and CCPA posted notice on its website that it closed and ceased operations in January 2014. Staff sent correspondence to CCPA's Executive Director, Andrea Gorham (who was the only signatory on the theatre lease) on February 14th and March 5th to confirm CCPA's status and its intentions for the lease. Staff received responses on February 27th and March 27th to these inquiries from Dan Dillman on behalf of CCPA, although Mr. Dillman was not a party to the lease nor identified by CCPA as a member of the organization's leadership or its Board of Directors. Staff never received return correspondence from Ms. Gorham. On April 14, 2014, due to abandonment of premises and default of the lease terms, notice was sent to Ms. Gorham that the City was terminating the lease with CCPA. CCPA was notified it had until May 15, 2014 to remove from the premises any fixtures, furnishings and other personal property. The theater has been vacant ever since.
DISCUSSION
As it has been a long-standing City goal to support and implement programs that enhance the quality of life in San Lean...
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