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Originally Posted by Makid
Who is riding Trax today to the Pantages/Utah Theater?
That is the point.
Say the City tries to go down the road of saving the theater, the development with Hines goes away. That is what many people want but at the same time, they hope that someone will come in and save the theater. But what if no one comes? How long should the theater stay in its decaying state?
As for saving the theater. If it was possible and someone stepped up to do so, I would be happy. But I also live in the real world and wonder outside of history, what is the ROI going to be for the theater?
If it is restored as everyone wants, it would be a single screen theater. How often would it be used, One or maybe two weeks a year for Sundance?
What is the programming that will draw people to the theater?
If it was used outside of Sundance for first run movies, is there enough foot traffic to support it? People aren't going drive downtown (pay for parking) or take Trax all to walk a couple of blocks to see a movie that they can see closer to home.
This is where the ROI comes into account. Heart can only get you so far but what is going to be the ROI? A theater that sits empty for 340+ days a year? A street front that is only slightly better than today?
Sure, having it saved would be great but show me how it is worth the money, either for an angel investor or even the public to subsidize.
On the other hand, we can preserve the best remaining parts of the theater and incorporate them into a development that will bring in hundreds of people daily. Increase foot traffic in the area, and increases tax revenue. It would also increase transit ridership as people would use transit to get around.
These are the harsh realities and while preservation is good, there must be some return from the investment made. This is why we are at 2 options: Move forward with a residential project or hope and pray someone comes in with a plan to save the theater as it sits idle and decaying for who knows how long making preservation even harder.
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Why do you want to make living history history?
The Hines development could always go somewhere else.
The theater is not actively decaying, measures have already been taken to maintain it's current condition.
Just because people have suggested the use be a film center does not mean that would be it's only use. Just look at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis (which has the same stage size limitations) It's used for concerts, standup, or any sort of show that doesn't require a bunch of Broadway sets, which are the majority of shows.
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Originally Posted by gakidave
I love the old Utah Theater building, but I really struggle to see how it could be used even if it was saved and rebuilt.
Eccles really is the go-to place for traveling productions, and it's already built with all the of the modern amenities needed. 2,500 seats is a great size.
Capitol Theater is wrapping up renovations and comes in at 1,800 seats.
Abravanel Hall is around 2,700 seats.
Pantages was around 2,300 seats. Can Salt Lake really support four downtown venues in the ~2,000 seat range? Who would use it? Hale Sandy doesn't even have 500 seats. It's way too big for the Off-Broadway Theater. There's tons of competition for movies already. I just don't see a viable use for it as a theater right now.
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The legroom back then was nil, and as many seats as physically possible were squished into the theater. Even Capitol has reduced the amount of seats over the years to provide a more comfortable experience (I wish airplanes would do the same). So 2000 would be about right.
There are many uses for an auditorium, Meetings (Convention Center is a block away), Concerts, Traveling tours that don't require much scenery like standup and readings. Also, could be an affordable venue for local community events (ROI should not only be measured in dollars and cents).
Additionally, All theaters have downtime while shows are being swapped out. All it would take is scheduling and coordination to make it viable in an ROI sense.