Rehoboth Beach and Clear Space Theatre reach an agreement that will keep the theatre company in the city - and eventually in a bigger space.
Clear Space wants to move to a new, larger building and they need more space to do that. The theatre’s board was looking at two locations - one in downtown Rehoboth and one in Lewes. Rehoboth officials actively courted the theatre company to stay in the city with a generous incentive package.
“Probably the most important incentive was their lease fee," says Rehoboth Beach Mayor Stan Mills. "The commissioners agreed to a $1 a year lease fee for up to 50 years, and that in itself has a value in the millions, $20 to 30 million.”
There may be more help coming from the city as well. Several ideas, including a $1 million donation from the city, paid back by a small surcharge on tickets, were tabled for a later commission meeting.
“It may be that it's finite, it's set, what they have is it, and it may be that some additional incentives are agreed to at that time," Mills says.
Mills says the process of drafting the incentive package was open and transparent. It was discussed in several commission meetings and public input was relatively heavy.
“It's just very important, so we're not just acting on our own," he says. "We are representatives of the people and we thought we had a very good process.”
The new building for Clear Space has yet to be designed, but it is expected to nearly double the seating capacity, add a second smaller theatre, and expand educational spaces.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
