Not quite a Hollywood ending at the Senator

It's easy to see why the city's sale of the Senator Theatre gave Comptroller Joan Pratt heartburn. The city paid $810,000 for the movie palace three years ago and this week sold it for a $310,000 loss. Worse yet, the city is hardly washing its hands of the seemingly snakebit property. It will hold the mortgage — and charge a minuscule 2 percent in interest. The city is putting up an additional $700,000 loan to the theater's new owners, who are also receiving a loan from the state and another from a bank. Too much debt brought the Senator to the brink of failure several times before, and if it does so again, the theater will be right back in the city's hands.

September 27, 2012