Follows opening of new Ritz Carlton Hotel and Towers

Today, Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined with Tony Pangaro, Principal of Millennium Partners-Boston and Robert J. Orchard, Managing Director of the American Repertory Theatre ("ART") to announce a unique partnership that will have as its goal the restoration of Boston’s Paramount Theatre. The partnership will embark on a study of reviving the long-dormant Washington Street theatre for use as a major center for stage plays, music and dance. It will examine construction and operating fund requirements for its long-term operation. The Mayor also announced a $7,500 grant from the Boston Redevelopment Authority for planning and future study of the Paramount’s redevelopment. The grant matches $7,500 from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Project, a joint venture of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Nonprofit Finance Fund.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for the arts community in Boston. With this work Boston anticipates a new era of artistic creativity,” said Mayor Menino. “The potential for re-birth of this theatre signals the next great step in our efforts to revitalize Downtown Crossing and Washington Street.”

Millennium, the current owners of the building, will join forces with ART to examine the creation of a 400/500 seat working theatre. Also part of the team is the highly acclaimed architect, Graham Gund, who has developed a preliminary design for the build-out of the theatre, and has helped determine the initial costs for its renovation. In addition to an intimate theater, the design calls for a smaller performance/rehearsal space while maintaining significant architectural features.

A.R.T. has volunteered to lead the evaluation effort in partnership with other potential institutional users. Groups that have expressed an interest in using the theatre and joining the study include the Boston Conservatory of Music, World Music, the Fleet/Boston Celebrity Series, the Handel and Haydn Society, and Shakespeare & Company among others. Preliminary estimates put the cost of the renovation at around $15,000,000.

As part of the community benefits from the new Ritz Carlton Hotel and Towers, Millennium has already spent $1.6 million to secure the Paramount roof, restore the entirety of the cast stone façade, provide fire sprinklers and reconstruct the illuminated "blade sign" which is a great beacon for Washington Street. The Blade Sign, which contains over three thousand light bulbs, will be rehung on the façade of the building in the first quarter of 2002.

With its opening in 1932, the Paramount Theatre was described in the press “not as a great palace of vaulted halls, marble staircases and glitter” but rather an “amazingly modern” theatre which offered the public a distinct contrast to the baroque interiors of earlier Boston stage and movie theatres. Today, it stands as an example of Art Deco architecture rarely seen in Boston theatre.

The Paramount is one in a series of new theatre projects to be advocated by Mayor Menino. His strong commitment to the Boston’s art’s community is illustrated by his efforts in recent projects such as the Parcel 8 project in the South End, Emerson Majestic Theatre’s expansion at the new Loews hotel and the Opera House. Today's announcement is a call to the community to join in the effort to provide critically needed space for the performing arts in Boston. Many companies are looking for well-equipped spaces that hold between 300 and 500 seats. This project can go a long way toward easing the crunch on live-theater space in Boston.

Millennium has recently completed the construction of the very successful, 1.8 million square foot Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Towers immediately adjacent to the Paramount theatre. That new project contains the new Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common Hotel; the 19 screen Loews Theatre Complex; the 100,000 square foot Sports Club LA - Boston; the Residential Suites at the Ritz-Carlton Towers, and 300 condominium apartments. Pursuant to the City's plan for the area, the project has spurred the dramatic revitalization of Washington Street and the Theatre District.

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) is a resident professional theater and training organization founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein and Robert J.Orchard. The Company is based in Cambridge, working in association with Harvard University at the Loeb Drama Center, a facility that A.R.T. shares with the Harvard/Radcliffe Dramatic Club and the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. The A.R.T. would use the Paramount at times of the year as a special Boston venue when the Loeb stage is given over to student projects.