Theater grapples with real estate conflict

When Charlie Dodson bought the old Parkway Theater in the fall of 2002, he knew it would be a fixer-upper. Still, he felt that the time and money were worth it, because he would be saving an historical building from falling into complete ruin while at the same time providing a new venue for the arts community in which to thrive.There was no way he could have anticipated the obstacles he was about to face.

The Parkway, a 925-seater Italian Renaissance-style theater built in 1915 and considered the premier silent movie house in its time, had fallen into neglect, lying unused for 30 years before Dodson discovered it. When he first toured the property he saw rats scuttling around, a flooded basement, ruined murals and a theater space stripped of its original brass fixtures by vandals. "But when I saw the starburst on the dome and plaster ornamental bas reliefs," says Dodson, "I was blown away. It looked like something out of Venice." He was told there was another interested undisclosed party bidding on the property, but that party couldn't put up the $235,000 asking price in time. Dodson could and did.

After he signed the papers, the former owners told him that the other interested party he had been bidding against was the quasi-government publicly funded Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). Soon after, the BDC threatened Dodson with condemnation of his property, unless he could come up with a business plan and a list of investors that met its approval. Dodson felt like was under attack. "I didn't come to the new arts district to be pushed around by a corporate entity," he says. He'd only just purchased the property, and condemnation proceedings scared away the very investors he was asked to produce.

Paul Dombrowskim, BDC director of planning and design, denies such characterization of the BDC's intent in the pages of this week's Baltimore City Paper. He is quoted as saying, "[In that immediate area] things have been in a downward spiral for a number of years, and [it's] not something we can sit by and watch for another five to 10 years. ...If there is demonstrated progress being done on the properties, we would certainly take that into consideration. We would like not to have to spend public monies if the private market will do it."

This frustrates Dodson, who asserts that he is fully capable of resurrecting the theater without the BDC's interference. Just look, he says, at the success of the Parkway's opening day a the city's February 14's "Gotta Have Art!" festival.

A self-described artist-engineer, Dodson is something of a Renaissance man. He is a talented engineer with one hand in the scientific world of patents and another hand in the music world. But now Dodson has been forced to add another line to his resume: full-time crusader. He has fought to avoid the Parkway's condemnation, going so far as to drop out of the Johns Hopkins biotechnology Ph. D. program in which he was enrolled, in order to focus on defending his right to own the theater.

The Parkway is located at 5 W. North Ave., just one and a half blocks from the train station. With its rich history and plum location could be the jewel of the Station North Arts District, one of two Baltimore city areas designated for tax-break incentive programs to attract arts-related businesses and artistic tenants to revitalize derelict neighborhoods.

But if the BDC is successful in obtaining an order to condemn the property, Dodson will have to sell it to the city, which may -- or may not -- sell it to a buyer who chooses to revive the Parkway as an arts-related venue. The buyer could raze it if they wanted to, but what is almost sure is that if the Parkway is taken away from Dodson, whoever obtains it is unlikely to develop it the way Dodson plans to.

Gregg Mosson, who does public relations consulting for the Parkway, says, "Charlie's vision is for the theater to be an incubator for the arts. It will attract local and national talent and will offer amateurs a chance to be part of a larger community that another owner might not." If Dodson's vision is allowed to continue, the Parkway could become a valuable venue for the arts in Baltimore and for Hopkins students in the arts to grow and flourish.

The bill to condemn Charlie Dodson's Parkway Theater will be discussed by city council's Urban Affairs Committee at 5:30 p.m. on March 18, and Dodson strongly urges students and faculty to become involved in the Parkway via its up and coming Web site: http://www.parkwaytheater.org.