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Harvard Square Theatre site plan includes LED-enabled facade, rebuilt theater space

Site in Cambridge’s Harvard Square has been shuttered since 2012

Rendering via Promotorio/Merge Architects/Boston Globe

A redeveloped Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge’s Harvard Square would include five floors of commercial space, including a two-screen theater, and a LED-enabled facade for art displays, according to details released on June 27.

Those details came from an LLC that investor Gerald Chan set up. Chan bought the theater in 2015. It has been shuttered since 2012, a reality that put Chan in the civic cross-hairs of the Cambridge City Council, which pressed him to take action on the Church Street site.

These details are a part of that action and have been anticipated since early 2017, though it’s far from certain whether the necessary powers will embrace them. Chan’s plan calls for offices above storefronts and a rebuilt two-screen theater. As for that facade, it would be used for art or photography, but no advertisements.

Chan’s group intends soon to file plans with the Cambridge Historical Commission, which must approve the former theater’s demolition, per the Globe’s Tim Logan. The Cambridge Planning Board also has to sign off. Stay tuned.