Heartbreak ridge

Lupo cites concerns on relocation plan

by Ian Donnis

For close to a year, the idea has been an appealing win-win: Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel moves over a block to the larger-capacity former Strand Theater on Washington Street, and Downcity's evolution as a residential arts district steps forward with the development of loft housing in the former Peerless department store building on Westminster Street. But rather than complimenting each other, the two projects are now in conflict.

Although he is still pursuing the Strand option, club owner Rich Lupo questions whether he will be able to buy the idled former vaudeville theater. Meanwhile, Lupo -- who has nine years remaining on his lease at the Peerless building -- says his landlord, Peerless-Keen Associates, is "doing everything they can" to get him to relocate the Heartbreak Hotel from the space.

Lupo and developer Arnold "Buff" Chace, one of the principals of Peerless-Keen Associates, have been in talks for months to chart the relocation of Lupo's, thereby setting the stage for redevelopment of the Peerless. Chace, says Lupo, has pledged about half of the cost of renovating the Strand, a little more than $400,000, to support the plan. But relations between the two have taken a recent turn for the worse.

"We're in communication, but I'm afraid it could be a collision course," possibly resulting in litigation, Lupo says. While he's still seeking a city-backed $1.3 million federal loan that is crucial for the Strand project, Lupo says he's also "entrenching myself for a long and happy future at my present location with a bitter landlord."

Chace did not return calls seeking comment. For his part, Lupo would not specify what is being done to encourage him to relocate his club, but he says the property owners, in talks with city officials, are "pounding away at the false idea that our customers are the dregs of society and [the club is] bad for the city."

Peerless-Keen Associates bought the Peerless building four years ago, when Lupo had 13 years left on his lease. Tension over the club's future has been there all along, since the property owners' desire to redevelop the building has been well-known, "but over the years, [Chace] has assured me that he would never try to evict the club," Lupo says. "And now, it's my opinion he's under some kind of pressure financially, and I don't believe him anymore."

Lupo's greatest asset in the conflict could be that he has what he calls "a very solid lease. The point is, I don't think there's a hole in the ace." Short of an agreement, it's hard to know how Chace might try to get around a legal arrangement that predates his business's ownership of the Peerless building.

In two incarnations dating to 1975, Lupo's has been a major downtown attraction, a source of entertainment and vitality long before Providence became a national symbol of urban rejuvenation. Lupo, a native of Boston's Dorchester section who came to town to study at Brown and never left, says the club's annual turnout of music aficionados is second in downtown drawing power only to the Providence Performing Arts Center. Indeed, Lupo's staying power is noteworthy in a business where it's not uncommon for some clubs to come and go with dizzying speed.

Lupo estimates that relocating to the Strand would enable him to book about 20 larger shows by national touring acts that wouldn't typically play his club on Westminster Street. Lupo's bread and butter remains, though, concerts that draw between 500 and 1000 people to the Heartbreak Hotel. "I love the feel of our club where it is right now and I'd be more than happy to stay there for the next nine years," Lupo says. "I like Lupo's location better, but if it can be worked out and the Strand is pragmatic, I think it could go."

Part of the uncertainty about the Strand's future stems from the fact that businessman Michael Kent, the owner of Mecca, the Complex, and other enterprises, holds a lease for the theater portion of the building. According to Lupo, his purchase-and-sale agreement with Strand owner Robert L. Thibeault of Cumberland calls for the theater portion to be vacant of tenants.

But John Palmieri, Providence's director of planning and development, says he has reason to believe Thibeault's sale of the Strand to Lupo will go through if the $1.3 federal loan to Lupo is approved. A joint committee of the City Council's Urban Renewal Committee and Finance Committee was slated on Wednesday night to consider the low-interest loan application to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Lupo has applied to borrow a total of $1.45 million to buy and renovate the Strand, which has been unused as a musical venue since late 1997, when Thibeault clamped down on a previous tenant who owed back rent.

Turning Providence's old retail core, known as Downcity, into a vibrant residential arts and entertainment district has been ardently backed by Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci, the arts community and others. But although downtown has made significant strides in recent years -- and observers hope for positive spinoffs from the nearby Providence Place Mall -- Downcity lacks the kind of inexpensive, raw rental loft space that put art districts on the map in New York's Soho and Boston's Fort Point Channel.

The Smith Building, which has achieved near total occupancy, has signaled the willingness of people to live downtown. But with rents in the $700-$1100 range and polished living space, such lofts are unlikely to attract starving artists. Nonetheless, says Palmieri, the development of the Peerless building into housing "is integral to the city's renewal effort for Downcity . . . This is a key property. This is a huge building."

At the same time, Lupo's is a Providence institution, and city officials are unlikely to be anything less than supportive of the club. As Palmieri says, "Lupo's is an important venue for music and we certainly appreciate that."

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.