A split Glendale City Council voted in favor of terminating exclusive negotiations with Glendale Arts regarding the lease and management of the historic Alex Theatre on Tuesday, June 29. Glendale Arts has managed the property since 2008.
The 3-2 decision followed several months of exclusive negotiations between the two sides during which an agreement was not reached. The council’s decision on Tuesday does not preclude Glendale Arts from winning the contract but instead simply introduces two more competitors.
The city pays the company managing the theater a fee every year to do so. According to Mayor Paula Devine, the council was willing to pay $250,000 per year to Glendale Arts to operate the theater. Instead, Mayor Devine said, representatives from Glendale Arts asked for $400,000 a year for the first two years, then $250,000 a year for eight years after that.
Before the special city council meeting, approximately 30 supporters of Glendale Arts rallied outside Glendale City Hall. Attendees held signs and encouraged cars to honk out their own support as they passed.
Nina Crowe, the incoming CEO for Glendale Arts, said that communications between the city and her organizations have broken down and she’s not sure why.
‘We’re kind of lost with not really knowing what their thresholds or benchmarks were needed in order to make a deal,” Crowe said. “Today, they’re voting to cease negotiations, so all we want to do is say don’t cease the negotiations.”
Despite the pleas rom Glendale Arts and the dozens of phone calls from Glendale residents during the public comment period, a majority of city council members felt it was in the city’s best interest to entertain multiple offers.
Councilmember Ara Najarian acknowledged that Glendale Arts does good work, but almost never returns a profit, so it is time to look into other options.
“There are others out there who gave very attractive proposals too,” Councilmember Najarian said. “We need to find out if those proposals are legitimate, if they’ve done their due diligence, and continue on a negotiation process with all three.”
Other councilmembers were more frustrated with the way their own side handled negotiations. Councilmember Daniel Brotman said he didn’t appreciate how city staff never came back to Glendale Arts with a counteroffer.
“We didn’t tell them what we want,” Councilmember Brotman said. “We didn’t ever make a counteroffer. I hesitate to use the term bad faith, but that is not the way I would negotiate if I actually wanted to come to an agreement with an organization.”
The council did give their staff approval to extend Glendale Arts in the interim while they negotiate with all three potential suitors for the Alex Theatre.
Far from out of contention, Glendale Arts will now have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to convince the council that it is still the best caretaker of the 96-year-old theater.