JERSEY CITY -- A Hudson County judge this morning delivered a blow to Jersey City's efforts to revamp the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre by ruling that the nonprofit group that runs the historic theater has a valid lease that the city cannot break.

Judge Hector Velazquez dismissed a city attorney's arguments that the lease, which allows Friends of the Loew's to manage the 86-year-old theater until February 2020, is invalid, putting a temporary stop to Mayor Steve Fulop's plan to have concert promoter AEG Live take over management of the former movie palace.

"This is a contract. The parties are bound by the contract," Velazquez said.

Roberta Tarkan, FOL's attorney, cheered her client's victory.

"The lease is valid. That is the bottom line," Tarkan said.

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City attorney Jason Watson, who argued on the city's behalf, declined to comment after the roughly 50-minute hearing at the Brennan Courthouse on Newark Avenue. It was clear from the start of the hearing how Velazquez would rule. He peppered Watson with aggressive questions from the beginning, often interrupting him and expressing incredulity at Watson's arguments.

At one point, Velasquez responded to one of Watson's arguments by saying, "I rejected that argument three times already."

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill offered a statement later calling the judge's decision "a loss for residents."

"Instead of the possibility of daily events with global talent coming to Jersey City, this instead guarantees the theater will sit as is with only sporadic silent movies, even less frequent concerts, no air conditioning and no ability of the group to complete the restoration," Morrill said. "It is upsetting because the most important thing to the FOL was protecting their own personal salaries and fiefdom, despite the fact they can't complete the repairs after 25 years."

Last February, Fulop first announced his plan to have a concert promoter take over management of the Loew's, saying that would be the only way for the city-owned theater to live up to its potential. FOL, a mostly volunteer group that saved the building from a wrecking ball in 1993 and manages it for $1 a year, sued, saying the city's attempts to bring in an outside group to manage the Loew's broke the terms of the lease signed between FOL and the city in 2004.

The city made several arguments that the lease is invalid, including that language contained in the 2004 ordinance that ratified the lease did not offer the FOL the option to renew the lease unilaterally. The city argues the ordinance offered only lease extensions agreed to by both parties.

The 2004 lease expired in 2009. FOL has opted to renew the lease twice, most recently last year.

In June 2014, AEG Live, one of the world's biggest concert promoters, won a bid to manage the Loew's.

FOL President Colin Egan told The Jersey Journal today that he wants to sit down with city officials to discuss the future of the Loew's. Egan said he has no objection to a high-profile concert promoter bringing in acts to play there.

"Yes, big concerts and big promoters, but in a way that supports and sustains affordable access to the arts," he said.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.