City Council Approves Borrowing to Acquire Missing Link of Mohawk Theater
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday voted to approve the borrowing of $205,000 for the city to acquire complete ownership of the Mohawk Theater.
The council voted on first reading to authorize the treasurer to borrow $205,000 for the purchase of the section of the theater which is owned by the Moulton family. The city will then own the entire 1930s art deco theater, which in an unusual arrangement consists of parts of two separate buildings.
The council will conduct the vote to authorize the mayor to purchase the property at its next meeting, Feb. 26, when the authorization for the borrowing of the money is expected to be approved on final reading. The theater has been unused for several years.
"The acquisition of this property will allow us to proceed with the renovation of this historic theater," Mayor John Barrett III wrote in a letter to the council. "While it may take several years for the work to be completed, I am confident that with community participation and private fundraising, the restoration of the Mohawk will become a reality."
In his letter, Barrett said he is seeking to borrow the money, because given the state budget crisis "it would not be prudent to use available funds at this time. It is my intention to pay down this debt over the next two years."
Barrett said at Tuesday's meeting that the goal and objective of a restoration of the Mohawk would be to provide live theater, to provide a performance art center, to provide movie festivals. Any group the city eventually gives control of the theater to would have to meet the city's goals and objectives.
"We want to continue to be able to have a chance there so that the big screen will always remain there. A lot of our kids growing up have never seen a movie on a big screen," Barrett said. "Those goals and objectives will be maintained, and if they're not, then everything would revert back to the city."
In response to a question, Barrett said the $3.7 million theater restoration plan presented in May 2000 was still viable.
"The report that came out has been our blueprint," he said. "That plan is what's going to be followed. It's collecting dust right now, but that's the plan will be implemented, hopefully."
"The plans are real nice, and I don't consider it to be Cadillac. It's something that hopefully we'll plod along and get lucky," Barrett said. "Williams College got lucky with someone who came along with $20 million. We're only looking for two [million dollars]."
Barrett said the city would not lose on this investment.
"We can always get our money back if we have to sell the whole thing off," he said. "It's an investment, basically, in the city's future."
"Even more importantly, we're also protecting the heritage of this community," Barrett said. "That's part of our heritage, that's part of our history "” we should do everything that we can to preserve it.
"We've taken that step of preserving it — maybe future generations [will] have to preserve it and run it and operate it,.
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