NORTHAMPTON — In 2023, Eric Suher told the Northampton License Commission he had reached a deal to sell the Calvin Theatre to New York City music venue operator The Bowery Presents, and it seemed the long-empty theater was on the verge of a revival.
Nearly two years later, the theater remains vacant, with the deal to transfer ownership from the local real estate mogul having fallen through and the city planning to hold a lottery to find a new owner for the theater’s liquor license this week.
Annie Lesko, the city’s coordinator for administration, licensing and economic development, told the License Commission last month that negotiations had soured between the two sides, leading to a cancellation of the deal, but added she did not have much firsthand knowledge as to what caused the rift.
“This is all just hearsay, but Eric did not like the Bowery people, which is why it didn’t continue,” Lesko told the commission.
Two years ago, the License Commission threatened to strip Suher’s liquor licenses for five of his properties unless he either sold or reopened them, after they had remained dormant since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two of the locations, the Iron Horse Music Hall and the Green Room, have since reopened under new owners, while the liquor license for The Basement was eventually given to the downtown restaurant Gombo, which now hosts live music on select days. The commission also cancelled a liquor license for the Pearl Street Nightclub.
At a special license commission meeting in October 2023 to determine whether to revoke the license for the Calvin, Suher announced a deal to transfer ownership to The Bowery Presents, which operates venues in New York City and Boston and is a regional partner of global entertainment company AEG Presents. A representative from The Bowery Presents, Jim Glancy, told the commission at the time that he expected shows to return sometime between February and March 2024.
But there had been scant word about any other updates regarding the deal since, with other parties that had made deals with Suher experiencing difficulties in getting their new liquor licenses to transfer ownership. Now with the deal officially dead, the city must figure out what to do with the liquor license, which they have taken back from the Calvin but have been holding onto in case a deal was reached.
Lesko told the commission in June that Suher had been “impossible” for the city to get a hold of regarding how to reissue the license, but that Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra had showed up to an appointment Suher had with the planning director at Florence Bank. Lesko said Suher told the mayor that he would have something for the commission, but that he never delivered on that promise.
“He essentially cut her [the mayor] off and was just like ‘I know, I get it, thanks for the heads up, I’ll have something before the commission next week,’” Lesko said.
Suher did not respond to requests for comment regarding this story.
Though the deal to reopen the Calvin may have fallen through, there still may be some hope to breathe some life into the venue.
Lesko also told the commission in June the city had been contacted by Marc Geiger, the founder of a company called SAVELIVE, who had expressed interest in trying to make a deal with Suher to bring back the Calvin.
An experienced music executive and co-founder of the Lollapalooza music festival, Geiger founded SAVELIVE in 2020 to help venues that had been negatively impacted by the pandemic. The group operates venues across the country including in California, Wisconsin and New York, according to the presenter’s website.
“He [Geiger] has called the office and talked to [Chief of Staff] Alan [Wolf] and the mayor a few times,” Lesko said. “It sounds like they’re pretty serious and trying to make a deal with Eric.”
As for the liquor license, the commission plans to hold a lottery at its meeting Wednesday to determine the new owner.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
