After years of sitting dark on North Broad Street, the long-closed Logan Theater may be heading back into the spotlight. Entertainment-industry veteran Nolbert Brown Jr. is pitching a roughly $10 million overhaul that would reopen the landmark as the Cicely Tyson Performing Arts Center.
The plan calls for a large main performance house, a jazz dinner-theater restaurant, retail space and programming designed to bring touring Broadway productions and live concerts to neighborhood audiences. Brown says he is still waiting on city permits and has not put a reopening date on the calendar. The project aims to preserve key historic details while refitting the 102-year-old movie palace for contemporary crowds.
What the plan includes
According to PHILADELPHIA.Today, Brown's proposal would reconfigure the building into a 2,650-seat main theater, a 200-seat jazz dinner restaurant and a roughly 4,000-square-foot gift shop. The outlet reports Brown wants to bring in popular touring shows so residents are not stuck traveling to New York to see large-scale productions.
The same reporting notes that the redevelopment plan includes preserving plasterwork and other ornamental elements that give the building its historic character, even as the interior is reworked for new uses.
Lease history and earlier efforts
Brown first publicly tied himself to the Logan in 2022, when he signed a 10-year lease with owner Owen Williamson, as reported by Hidden City Philadelphia. At that point, he described his vision as an "Apollo-style" local hub for Black performers and said he hoped to reopen the theater in time for its centennial. Those earlier plans did not materialize.
Williamson bought the property in 2005, and prior restoration attempts stalled out as repair costs climbed, according to Hidden City Philadelphia. The new proposal is the latest effort to bring the aging complex back into active use.
Why the building matters
The Logan Theatre at 4732-42 N. Broad Street is listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, per the city's nomination file (Philadelphia Historical Commission nomination). That document traces the venue's 1923 debut as a movie palace and its later conversion to a church in the 1970s.
The nomination details original lobby ornament, a second-floor ballroom and other elements preservation advocates say are worth saving. Because of the historic designation, exterior work and certain interior changes will likely need review by the Philadelphia Historical Commission as the project moves through the permitting process.
Next steps for the neighborhood
Brown estimates the revived venue could create about 2,000 jobs in its first years and says he plans to self-fund much of the work, but the project remains on hold until city permits are approved, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"We're giving an opportunity for people to see a Broadway show that probably would never see it," Brown said, as quoted in PHILADELPHIA.Today.
Local leaders and preservation advocates are expected to push for specifics on community benefits, local hiring and how the project will handle traffic and transit impacts. For now, the key question is whether the city's permitting machinery moves quickly enough to turn the latest proposal into construction work on the ground.
