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Council to discuss taking Royal Poinciana Playhouse from Thursday, February 14, 2008 After a long standoff over the future of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, the town soon might attempt to force owner Sidney Spiegel to the negotiating table. The Town Council decided Tuesday to discuss at its March 11 meeting using condemnation to take the Royal Poinciana Playhouse site from Spiegel. Councilman Denis Coleman suggested the idea, saying Spiegel hasn't negotiated with the town in good faith. "It seems we cannot get Mr. Spiegel's attention," he said. "I have a feeling we're going to get it now." Spiegel could not be reached for comment Wednesday. His attorney, James Brindell, did not return a call seeking comment. Spiegel has sought since 2001 to raze the theater and redevelop the site with a hotel or luxury condominiums. But he has failed to obtain a zoning change to would allow that. Once a cornerstone of the town's entertainment scene, the theater has been dark since 2004, when the last operator pulled out. Spiegel says it is no longer economically viable. The town says the 50-year-old theater is protected from demolition by a 1979 property-use agreement between the town and the previous owner of the Royal Poinciana Plaza and Playhouse. The agreement requires the theater to be used as a performing arts venue and is binding on the current owner, a judge has ruled. Spiegel has appealed the ruling to a federal court, and the theater remains shuttered. Meanwhile, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously recommended last year that landmark protection be assigned to the 12-acre plaza site, including the Playhouse. The plaza and Playhouse were designed in the Regency style by noted architect John Volk. Spiegel opposes landmarking the property. The council has twice granted his request for six-month delays of the landmarking hearing. The hearing is now set for April. Coleman has said Spiegel's hands are tied and that the theater has become a "faux asset" for Spiegel, who must maintain and pay taxes on it even though it no longer produces revenue. "As a landlord, he is deficient in maintaining the property," Coleman said Tuesday. "As a man who has an agreement with the town, he is in default. ... Even were the owner to come forward now, there is little basis for believing that, in the future, he would abide by a new agreement." He also suggested the town consider suing Spiegel for damages. The plaza and theater are at a highly visible location, next to one of the three bridge entrances to the town, Coleman pointed out. If the town takes the property, a referendum should be held to decide its use. "I have no agenda of what I want to do with this property," Coleman said in an interview Wednesday. "It could be used as a theater or something else. All I want is for the town to get control of it. I would prefer to get control in a negotiated fashion. But the further we go down this road without him, the more difficult it is to retrace our steps." Patrick Flynn, president of the Palm Beach Theater Guild, said the organization welcomes a dialogue on condemnation. The guild favors landmarking the Playhouse and wants to operate it, but Spiegel won't negotiate with the group. Town Attorney John Randolph said Wednesday that he could recall no eminent domain proceedings by the town since he became town attorney in 1979. The process requires several steps, beginning with meetings to solicit public comment, he said. The council would have to adopt a resolution declaring a public purpose and necessity for the Playhouse site. That would be followed by a court hearing. If a judge found that there was a public purpose and need for condemnation, there would be trial to determine the compensation due the owner. Throughout the process, there would be an opportunity for Spiegel to negotiate an agreement with the town, Randolph said.
HISTORIC PLAYHOUSE CAN'T BE RAZED, JUDGE RULES BYLINE: TIM O'MEILIA, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer The 49-year-old Royal Poinciana Playhouse cannot be demolished as its owner wishes, a judge ruled Tuesday. The playhouse, host to such old-time luminaries as Helen Hayes, Dame Judith Anderson and Christopher Plummer, must be maintained as a performing arts venue under a 1979 agreement between the town and the owner of the theater and surrounding Royal Poinciana Plaza, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge David Crow said in a 12-page ruling. "We're overjoyed. It's just amazing. It's a complete victory," said Patrick Flynn, president of the Palm Beach Theater Guild, a grass-roots group formed to save the playhouse from the wrecking ball.
The 1957 Royal Poinciana Playhouse must remain an arts venue and cannot be demolished, according to a decision by Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge David Crow today. Embroiled in a long-running dispute, Sidney Spiegel, who is the owner of the theater property; the Town of Palm Beach and a community organization supporting the theater asked the court to decide if a 1979 agreement requiring the property to remain an arts venue is valid. Saying the theater, which went dark in May 2004, is no longer profitable, Spiegel wanted to tear it down to build a luxury hotel. He argued that the agreement was no longer valid because numerous zoning changes made over the years that allowed further development of the property cancelled the early agreement. But Crow disagreed. "From 1984, [Spiegel] executed approximately 17 amendments to the Agreement and on each occassion reaffirmed that all remaining terms and conditions of the 1979 Agreement shall remain in full force and effect," Crow wrote in his decision. "At no time until August 2001, did Mr. Spiegel ever advise the Town or suggest that the 1979 Agreement was ineffective or had been voided by 'further development possibilities.' " Since 2005, a nonprofit community group, the Palm Beach Theater Guild, opposed Spiegel's plan and fought to preserve the theater. The Guild wants to run the theater and allow community performing arts organizations to hold events there. The owners of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse cannot demolish the theater and must operate it as a performing arts venue, a judge has ruled. In a 12-page decision released Tuesday, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge David Crow found that the Playhouse owners are bound by a 1979 property use agreement that protects the 878-seat theater for use as an arts and lecture venue. The plaza's owners, Poinciana Management, sued the town in 2005, asking a judge to find that the agreement had been nullified by zoning changes since 1979 that allowed for "further development possibilities." The town reached the agreement as part of a zoning variance granted to the plaza's previous owner in March 1979, eight months before a group led by Sidney Spiegel bought the 12-acre property. The agreement was binding on future owners, and the town maintained that it remains in effect. In his ruling, Crow noted that, from 1984 until 2001, Spiegel affirmed in each of 18 amendments to the agreement that its restrictions, including the Playhouse protection, remained in full force. Spiegel has said the Playhouse, dark since 2004, is no longer economically viable. His proposal to raze it and redevelop the waterfront site ignited an outcry from preservationists and theater supporters who want to preserve the 49-year-old theater designed by noted architect John Volk. Crow, who presided over a trial on May 7-8, wrote that the court "is not unsympathetic to the plaintiff's position that the Poinciana Playhouse is economically unviable. ... The plaintiff's remedy, however, is not in the courts but with the Town Council." Town Attorney John Randolph announced the decision during Tuesday's Town Council meeting shortly after it was released. "It was a well-written and well-researched opinion which was fully supported by the facts and testimony to the court," Randolph said later. Patrick Flynn, president of the Palm Beach Theater Guild, enthusiastically welcomed Crow's ruling. The guild has sued the plaza owners in an effort to force them to allow the guild to operate the Playhouse. "This is great news," Flynn said. "The question is whether they will appeal or not." Spiegel said only that he was "disappointed" by the ruling. Plaza attorney Linda Conahan could not be reached for comment. --Patrick Henry Flynn, President Palm Beach Theater Guild, Inc. POB 667, Palm Beach, FL 33480 T. 561 366-8980; F. 561 833-6865 www.pbtheaterguild.org
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