Since 1982, Boston University has been an instrumental financial partner of the Huntington Theatre Company, a relationship that saw the Huntington become one of the region's chief theatrical engines. But Wednesday afternoon, the two entities announced they're parting ways.
After a few years of discussing the alliance, BU intends to sell its Huntington Avenue facilities, including the 890-seat theater, and move all its theater programs to the Charles River campus, according to a joint statement. The university will allow the theater company to remain in its Huntington Avenue home, rent-free, through 2017.
The company intends to buy the Boston University Theater and the two adjacent buildings and to renovate them, either on its own or with a developer, said Huntington Theatre Company Managing Director Michael Maso.
"This facility, while world class in 1925, when it was built, is hardly that now," said Maso. "We need audience amenities that serve modern audiences. We really want to duplicate what we did at the Calderwood Pavilion."
The Huntington Theatre Company in 2004 opened the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts to have a second stage, which it shares with several small and mid-sized theater companies in the city. That development wound up being the genesis for a building boom in the South End, drawing luxury residences, destination shopping and high-end restaurants.
