Famed ring is on the ropes

The Blue Horizon - the North Philadelphia destination for rising boxers for 46 years that became a community cultural center with the northward expansion of the Avenue of the Arts - is for sale.

The marketing of the famed boxing venue at 1314 N. Broad St. for $6.5 million was confirmed today by part-owner Vernoca L. Michael, who said a deficit caused by falling rentals from banquets and meetings had forced her to "explore my options."

"It's my future," Michael said. "I'm 61 years old and I'm recovering from a major accident . . . that doesn't let me run around anymore."

Michael broke gender stereotypes when she became the first female African American boxing promoter upon buying the deteriorating landmark in 1964 with Carol P. Ray and a male partner, Carol M.A. Whitaker.

The Blue claims a total of 33 champions - including Matthew Saad Muhammad, Bernard Hopkins, Meldrick Taylor and Tim Witherspoon - among those who fought there. Parts of the movies Rocky V and Annapolis were filmed there.

But Michael said the association of the rambling stretch of three four-story Second Empire houses - built about 1865 and converted into a lodge for the Loyal Order of Moose, Chapter 54 in 1914 - with the Avenue of the Arts had not covered the $2.5 million in improvements that she and her partners made.

Today, the famous 1,500-seat boxing arena on the top floor is just one of the building's features.

Through an associated nonprofit group, Nia Kuumba Inc., Michael has tried to transform the building into a cultural and community center for the North Philadelphia neighborhoods between Center City and Temple University. There's a learning center with links to Temple, the University of Pennsylvania, and other institutions, and Michael is working on a Philadelphia boxing museum.

"I need the community support. If the community is still interested in saving this facility, this historic building," Michael said. "I need people, the business community, to step up to the plate if they want to save this major institution on the main street of Philadelphia."

Daniel B. Leider, an agent with the Herbert Yentis & Co. Inc. real estate brokerage, which is handling the sale, said today that the property had been on the market about three months but had not been heavily advertised.

A notice of the sale appeared today on the Web site Craigslist.

News that the Legendary Blue Horizon - its formal title - was on the market surprised people.

Karen A. Lewis, executive director of Avenue of the Arts Inc., said that she knew the Blue Horizon was financially strapped and that she and city officials had helped obtain additional funding several years ago to keep it afloat.

"I didn't know it was for sale and it would be very disappointing if it were sold," Lewis said.

The tax returns for the nonprofit Nia Kuumba Inc. show net assets of $731,632 for the 2006 fiscal year, a drop of $140,618 from the previous year, most of it through a decrease of rental and concession income.

The nonprofit has mortgages totaling $1.3 million on the property. City records show unpaid real estate taxes totaling $82,040 since 2003.

According to Leider, the property has 41,440 square feet of usable space above street level, including the boxing arena, a 600-seat lower auditorium with 580 seats available in a balcony, and a 500-seat ballroom.

One asset of the Legendary Blue Horizon that is not for sale, Leider said, is the boxing business.

"I became a promoter after I bought the Blue Horizon," Michael said, recalling the obstacles presented by her sex and race. "It was the only way we could get a seat at the table."