Published 19:42, July the 14th, 2009
Downtown theater could begin new era
PHILADELPHIA. The last time the Boyd Theatre was relevant — and the last time Philadelphia hosted a premiere for a movie that opened nationally afterward — Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks were walking the red carpet along Chestnut Street for "Philadelphia" in 1991.
Eleven years later, after a series of bungles by a couple owners, the film house was shuttered. Many thought for good, but a local prospective buyer willing to spend $10 to $20 million combined with recent historical designations appear to have saved the massive, 2,400-seat cinema.
The purchase of the building by city-based ARCWheeler from LiveNation has been slowed by the economy, one observer said yesterday, but the restoration of the theater and a $150 million hotel planned for an adjacent empty lot will hopefully bring national movie premieres back to Philadelphia.
"It has the glamour no where else has. It’ll be a knock your socks off experience," Howard Haas of the Friends of the Boyd said. "It’s a place movie directors will want to show their films."
Without a timetable for its sale and the one to two years needed for an overhaul, that place remains a long way off. Developer Harold Wheeler, whose company recently completed luxury highrise 10 Rittenhouse near the theater, did not return a message left yesterday.
"His determination on 10 Rittenhouse allows us to be confident," Haas said, though his group recently tried hosting a walkthrough only to be denied at the last minute by current owner LiveNation. "He knows what he’s doing."
