For years, the city has paid the lease for the ground level of the 10-story building that houses the historic Tampa Theatre and provided about $200,000 in annual subsidies.TAMPA - It's one of the city's oldest and most cherished downtown landmarks, harkening back to an era when North Franklin Street was a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare.

So for years, the city has paid the lease for the ground level of the 10-story building that houses the historic Tampa Theatre and provided annual subsidies to keep it afloat.

Within the next few weeks, the city will assume ownership of the downtown attraction.

Mayor Pam Iorio plans to spend $2 million to buy the lobby and two adjacent parcels on the first floor of the theater, which she said will save money in operating costs by erasing lease payments to the current owners. The money, which was budgeted this fiscal year, comes from community investment taxes collected from developers in previous years.

John Bell, the theater's president and chief executive officer, said the city's generosity will ensure that the theater is preserved.

"This is about preserving an important piece of Tampa's history for the future," he said.

Under the proposed agreement, which goes before the city council for a vote Thursday night, the city would give the money to the nonprofit foundation that runs the theatre.

The foundation would then donate the property to the city and sign a lease agreement making the city a landlord for the theatre's lobby, storefront, marquee and auditorium.

Bell said having the city own the theater will make it easier for the foundation to get state and federal preservation grants for future improvements and enhancement projects.

The grand lobby is owned by a real estate partnership that bought the building in 1980; the city owns the adjacent auditorium, but a family trust owns the land underneath it.

Tampa Theatre also owns some of the land, which it bought from a Scottish land trust.

The leases the city pays date back to 1924, when the theatre was built. They are set to expire in 2023, and theater officials worry that the owners could sell the property.

Bell said the foundation had considered buying the entire building, which includes nine floors of office space above the theater, but that proved to be cost prohibitive.

Tampa pays about $90,000 a year to lease those parcels. The city also pumps about $200,000 to the theater's $1.5 million budget, half of which comes from ticket sales. Next year the subsidy will decrease to $106,000 as part of citywide nonprofit funding cuts.

The city's neighborhood services administrator, Santiago Corrada, who oversees contracts with nonprofit organizations, said the Iorio administration considers the theater to be a vital part of Tampa's architectural and cultural legacy that should be protected.

"We need to make sure this building is preserved for future generations," he said.

Corrada said annual subsidies to the theater will likely continue in coming years, but that the city would not be getting involved in day-to-day business operations.

"We're not looking to get into the theater business," he said.

Tampa Theatre, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, hosts more than 600 events a year, including films, lectures and performances for children.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679.