Politics & Government
Theater Owner Has Support of Charles Village
Billie Taylor, owner of the former Showtime Theater, received the conditional backing of the neighborhood association during a hearing at City Hall on Tuesday.
The new owner of the former Showtime Theater, 9 W. 25th St., has gained the key support of the Charles Village Civic Association.
During a Baltimore Municipal and Zoning Appeals board hearing, an attorney representing the community group said the organization supports an occupancy permit being issued to Billie Taylor, the owner, under certain restrictions.
Some of those restrictions include performances ending by 11:30 p.m., banning patrons from dancing and limiting noise to less than 80 decibels outside the building.The attorney said Taylor must also make arrangements, with the assistance of the community, to help find more off-street parking. Taylor agreed to abide by those restrictions.
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Taylor told the board she intends to use the theater—which she wants to rename the Autograph Theater—for plays, to show independent movies and “quite possibly some concerts.”
She said she wants to use the spot because it is already being used as a theater and is set up for what she’d like to do with the building.
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“I think it’s really an ideal place,” Taylor said.
David D. Mitchell, a Charles Village resident who has been involved with several theater groups, will help Taylor run the theater. He said the next step is to begin raising funds to rehab the building, including $19,000 by month’s end to replace its one-ton HVAC unit.
Mitchell said there is no set timetable to begin the restoration of the theater, but they hope to be operating by this time next year.
“Hopefully within a year’s time, we can really be rocking and rolling with things,” Mitchell said.
a Charles Village Civic Association member and the attorney who represented the group at the hearing, said the community has been approached three times in the last few years about re-opening the theater. But none of those proposals had come this far, Guida said.
She said getting the theater and 25th Street looking better is important to Charles Village because of a planned development in the area that includes a Lowe's and Walmart.
“We want that block in good order, especially when 25th Street Station comes,” Guida said.
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