THE money pit into which Mikhail Bar yshnikov and hot shot Broadway pro ducers Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller have tumbled is getting deeper.
McCollum and Seller’s state-of-the-art off-Broadway theater – 37 Arts, which is also home to Baryshnikov’s dance studio and foundation – is being foreclosed on by the company that built it, The Post has learned.
The Builders Group is expected to foreclose within days on liens against the theater totaling nearly $14 million, sources say.
In foreclosure documents obtained by The Post, the Builders Group claims it is owed nearly $10 million by 37 Arts, which is run by McCollum, Seller and their partner, Alan Schuster.
Builders Group also claims Baryshnikov’s dance company is in the hole for almost $4 million.
“They’re in danger of having their entire investment wiped out,” a source involved in the dispute says of 37 Arts. “And if Baryshnikov doesn’t pay the $4 million, he could have his dance studio taken right out from under him.”
Christina L. Sterner, the managing director of Baryshnikov’s dance company, said she hadn’t yet seen the foreclosure papers, but added: “I suspect this is just their [Builders Group] latest kind of maneuver.”
Robert S. Peckar, the lawyer for 37 Arts, said: “It is ridiculous that they are doing this. It doesn’t accomplish anything. We are in negotiations to try to resolve the dispute to everyone’s satisfaction. We are very hopeful that those negotiations will be successful.”
37 Arts, as The Post first reported last month, has been a disaster from the start, riddled with debt and plagued by cost overruns and infighting among investors.
Because of its remote location – 37th Street, near 10th Avenue – McCollum and Co. have had difficulty renting it to a show that’s had any staying power.
They’ve even moved their own show, “In the Heights,” out of the theater and are taking it to Broadway, where, they believe, it stands a better chance of finding an audience.
HERE’S where things stand on the possi ble Broadway strike:
The stagehands will meet Sunday morning for a strike authorization vote. They are certain to give their union, Local 1, the go-ahead to call a strike should it come to that.
The producers will respond Monday by implementing – that is, living by – parts of their final offer. They’re not going to implement much, but the act itself is enough to inflame the union.
The stagehands were pleased yesterday to learn that the Nederlanders, Broadway’s second-largest owners, will not be joining the Shuberts and Jujamcyn Theaters in implementing the final offer.
Because of that, the stagehands have indicated they will not strike Nederlander theaters, which house such shows as “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Rent” and “Hairspray.”
“It would be impolite to strike them,” a union official says.
So does this mean the Nederlanders have broken ranks?
In a word, no.
The Nederlanders can’t implement for a technical reason: They have a separate contract with the stagehands.
And while they’re sitting in the negotiating room in solidarity with Shubert, Jujamcyn and the producers, they are there strictly as observers.
But sources say the Nederlanders will not wiggle out of their commitment to their colleagues.
Should a strike hit the Shuberts and Jujamcyn, the Nederlanders will lock the stagehands out of their theaters.
HERE’S an anecdote making the rounds of the stagehand circuit:
Mel Brooks was on his way to lunch at Angus McIndoe on West 44th Street the other day when he spotted a bunch of stagehands hanging around the St. James Theatre, where “The Grinch” opens next month.
They didn’t look very busy. So Mel ran over to them and said: “Michael Riedel and all those other reporters hang out at Angus McIndoe, and if they see you sitting around doing nothing, your goose is cooked!”
An hour later, Mel left the restaurant. The stagehands still weren’t doing anything. Only now they weren’t doing it while sitting in a truck.