For the second time in two years, a Superior Court has ruled against Jersey City in its continuing tussle with the volunteers overseeing the Historic Landmark Loew’s Theater.
On July 22, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey R. Jablonski ruled that the city and the Hudson County Board of Freeholders improperly redirected a $300,000 Open Space Fund grant away from the theater to other projects.
Jablonski said the city and the Friends of the Loews Theater (FOL) were co-grantees in receiving this grant and that the city’s request to divert the funding should have included the FOL but did not.
The court reversed the Aug. 13, 2015 action by the freeholder board and ordered that the grant be reinstated to the Loews Theater project.
“It’s not that we can’t do this, we just didn’t do it properly.” – Anthony Romano
____________
The city took ownership of the theater in the 1990s but later agreed to do many of the repairs using funding from the Urban Enterprise Zone – a state program that allows a portion of sales taxes to pay for improvements within the UEZ district where the Loew’s is located.
Second court ruling against the city
This is the second court ruling against the city in an ongoing power struggle for control of the theater.
In 2014, the city attempted to turn the theater into a performing arts center, and went so far as to award contracts for theater operations and restoration.
But the Friends of the Loews took the matter to court and got a ruling that the city could not violate a contract it had entered into with the FOL more than a decade ago. The FOL lease agreement with the city doesn’t expire until 2021.
In 2015, the city asked the freeholders to redirect a $300,000 grant that had been awarded by the county for work at Loews. Most of these funds were to be redirected to help fund the construction of the $35 million Berry Lane Park project.
But some members of FOL saw the move as the city’s attempt to punish FOL for resisting what they saw as the city’s attempt to wrest control of the theater away from them.
In a statement from the bench, Judge Jablonski said the county and the city diverted the funding improperly since the grant had been awarded to both the city and FOL for the work.
Roberta Tarkan, the attorney representing FOL, said Mayor Steven Fulop had issued a letter to Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise to propose redirecting the funds, saying in the letter that the $300,000 was not enough to actually make a significant impact on the repairs needed at the theater, but might be better used for other projects in Jersey City.
“One of the grants was originally intended to fund the installation of an air-conditioning system,” Fulop wrote. “The grant was repurposed for several smaller projects, as the initial project cost estimates far surpassed the total grant amount.”
Fulop said that after “a careful and detailed analysis of facility needs, it is clear that these smaller projects will have a minimal impact on expanding the facility functionality or improving the overall community benefits without a significant number of additional large scale improvements.”
Fulop said the city has engaged a variety of partners in both the public and private sectors to develop a full restoration and renovation plan for the Loew’s, one that will include these necessary large scale improvements and at the same time not raise taxes.
“Unfortunately, the current facility managers (FOL) have remained unsupported and unwilling to collaborate in any forward progress,” Fulop wrote.
Tarkan said FOL were not apprised about this letter until later.
FOL can’t fix the theater alone
In attempting to take control of the theater in 2014, Fulop argued that the FOL were not in a position to restore the theater or operate it as a modern performing arts center. But FOL argued the city had not lived up to its obligations to restore the theater in the first place, leaving maintenance tasks to FOL instead.
“What was truly inexplicable about all this was that the grant had been designated to pay for repairs that would help make the Loew’s comply with the City’s own safety and health codes – something that every property owner is supposed to do, regardless of who the tenant is,” FOL said in a statement. “Jersey City is the owner of the Loew’s, and in fact, the City had committed in our lease to find funding for this important work, but had failed to do so. Instead, at the City’s urging, FOL asked the county to provide grant funding for some of it.
“Also at Jersey City’s request, and to demonstrate our willingness to work together, FOL had agreed to make the City a co-grantee in the grant and allow the City to administer the work of the grant. After the 2015 action by the Freeholders to take away this important funding from the Loew’s, FOL reluctantly sued the County. The grant had been won by FOL and, even after we agreed to include the City in the grant, FOL remained a co-grantee. This means that the City had no right to unilaterally ask the County to take the money away, and the County was wrong to act accordingly.”
Tarkan said the freeholders had no right to take away the grant without FOL approval.
Several members of the freeholder board said this matter would be reviewed for a possible revote.
“It’s not that we can’t do this, we just didn’t do it properly,” said Freeholder Anthony Romano. “We’re going to vote on this again.”
The city has not responded to request for comment.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.