This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 10, 2009 - You won't see lights back on and the curtain rising just yet at the long-dark Kiel Opera House. But after years of talking and planning and starts and stops, things are moving again in that direction.
Barbara Geisman, the city's deputy mayor for development, said that a new round of talks is under way involving a law firm hired by the city and officials at SCP Worldwide in New York, which owns the St Louis Blues hockey team and the lease for the Opera House. The city owns the Opera House and in January, its Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority hired Thompson Coburn to represent the city in negotiations with SCP and its associates.
"They are working on it." Geisman said Monday. "They are talking through concepts and writing things down."
When asked if the city might provide any financial assistance, Geisman said: "That is what everybody is talking about."
"The city wants to see something happen there," she said, "and we are very optimistic."
SCP specializes in sports, entertainment and media-related ventures. It acquired the Blues, Scottrade Center and the lease for the Opera House in June 2006. Early last year, it teamed with McEagle Properties, a St. Louis developer perhaps best known for building WingHaven, a planned community in O'Fallon, Mo., and for its controversial acquisition of hundreds of still-undeveloped parcels and properties in north St. Louis.
What SCP and McEagle have on the drawing boards for the Art Deco Opera House would bring back much of its faded luster and revive it with a variety of entertainment and other activities. The estimated cost, one source said, likely would be $50-60 million.
Although many details are still under wraps, a spokesman at SCP confirmed this week that what's being talked about includes the Opera House's 3,500-seat main auditorium, four smaller adjoining assembly rooms, and perhaps the old Kiel Club area in part of a large exhibition space on a lower level. All of that has been closed since 1991, when the original Kiel Auditorium was torn down to make way for what's now Scottrade Center, a venue for Blues hockey, concerts and other entertainment.
Eric Gelfand, the SCP spokesman, said that SCP chairman David Checketts and others there are "100 percent committed" to moving forward with reviving the Opera House.
Gelfand said the plan is to bring mainly Broadway shows, concerts, family-oriented and seasonal shows to the main Opera House auditorium. SCP would book many of the shows itself. It is a majority owner of Running Subway, a New York-based production company with shows such as "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - The Musical," "Peter Pan" and "Sinatra." Running Subway also has agreements with Live Nation, a producer of live concerts, and some SCP executives have ties with concert promoter AEG.
The four assembly rooms -- each with a stage and its own entrance and designed originally to seat up to 800 -- would be renovated and reopened for a variety of uses.
"We can use them for everything from meetings to parties to wedding receptions," Gelfand said.
Ron Himes, founder of The Black Rep, said several weeks ago that a representative of the Opera House developers had approached him about the possibility of The Black Rep using space there. Himes said then that he wanted to talk with his theater group's board before entering into any discussions with the developers. He could not be reached this week for an update.
Gelfand declined to discuss specifics about any theatrical or other performing arts groups SCP and/or McEagle might be talking with. But he said that "when appropriate, we will be trying to find groups" to use the assembly rooms. "That would open up the amount of events we can have in the building," he said. The assembly rooms "provide a whole bunch of opportunities, and they are one of the wonderful attributes of the Opera House."
Gelfand said he could give no specifics yet about the possible reuse of the lower level with the old Kiel Club.
He also declined to discuss financing for the project. But he said that officials at SCP are confident about the prospects, despite these deeply troubled economic times.
"We know we can make it work, and we are excited about it," Gelfand said. "And at the end of the day, we know it will create a tremendous number of jobs, help reinvigorate downtown, and we think it will be a remarkable building."
Gelfand brought up construction of Rockefeller Center in the 1930s in New York as an example of how projects can move forward and bring jobs during depressed times. Reviving the Opera House, he said, "is not unlike a small version of Rockefeller Center, built during the Great Depression, and a big job creator then for New York City."
Even so, not everyone believes that what's in the works for the Opera House is the way to go.
Rich Baker, president at Fox Associates, said his group told city officials some time ago that putting Broadway shows, concerts and the like at the Opera House would be a mistake. He hasn't changed his mind about that.
Baker maintains that St. Louis already has more than enough concert venues and owners competing for concerts. As for Broadway shows, Baker says that the Fox already books mostly first-run shows, and the Muny does revivals. The Opera House would be competing for many of the same concerts and shows, he said, and in the process, bidding up the cost of bringing them here. "All that ultimately will do is drive up ticket prices," he said.
"All we encouraged the city to do is to stand back, look at it, and say, 'Does this make sense?' and make sure it really would bring in new revenue," he said.
Meanwhile, SCP has listed the Opera House on its website as one of its projects. The company describes the building, opened in 1934 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as "one of the most famous entertainment halls in the country."
"Long considered an architectural masterpiece," it continues, "it is one of the jewels of St. Louis. With SCP's experience in significant historical renovation projects like New York's Radio City Music Hall, it plans to revitalize the building and restore it to its original luster, lore and significance."
Charlene Prost is a freelance writer who has written on development issues for many years.