On some nights, the Jersey is a cinema purist’s dream: a place to eat popcorn from a cardboard box and watch an original print of a silent film shown through a carbon-arc projector with music and sound effects provided by a Wonder Morton Organ, the only one still operating in a Wonder Theater. Silent classics including “Nosferatu” and “Metropolis” drew big crowds last year. But these are no-frills events: The tickets come in perforated rolls, the candy is on a table rather than behind glass and the soda is in a cooler. The theater still lacks a sprinkler system, air-conditioning, smoke detectors, a stable balcony or the financial means to acquire them. The Friends, despite having put on a few concerts by acts like Beck and Bright Eyes, has been admonished by one government administration after another for not doing enough.

Last spring, Mayor Steven M. Fulop issued a request for proposals to renovate and manage the theater. A city-appointed panel selected ACE Theatrical (again with Martinez & Johnson Architecture) for the renovation, partly because of its success with the Kings, although in this case the national concert promoter AEG Entertainment was chosen to manage the theater. The Friends challenged the decision, arguing that a nonprofit organization should be in charge. But Mayor Fulop is concerned about fully exploiting the theater’s ability to make money.

“You look at the numbers that they did last year and I think it was approximately 10,000 people,” he said. “That theater’s capable of 10,000 people in a weekend.”

He said he wanted the Friends group to be part of the process of restoring the theater. “But at the same time,” he said, “I can’t responsibly put in $40 million and turn the keys over to somebody that doesn’t have a proven track record in managing a venue that size on a consistent basis.”

Mr. Egan’s concerns go beyond the bottom line. “AEG can do the job in terms of big shows and churning through numbers that in one sense justifies putting a lot of money into the Loew’s,” he said. “But you can’t have the theater doing what it’s supposed to do for the local community if all you look at is the cost-benefit analysis of putting people in Journal Square.”

The restoration of the Kings has bolstered Mayor Fulop’s plan. But the Friends’ connection to the theater runs deep, and the Jersey remains the only Wonder Theater operated by a local nonreligious group whose mission is to make it as much of a community center as it was in its prime.

People sometimes ask Mr. Egan if the theater is haunted. “No,” he said. “But I’m not dead yet.”