Curtain to Fall on Old Balboa, Ushering in a New Art Museum

Downtown will have a major art museum, the San Diego City Council decided Tuesday after an emotional 90-minute debate.

The proposed $7-million contemporary art museum will come at the expense of the Balboa Theater, which council members voted unanimously to condemn so that the property can be acquired by the city and then remodeled by a developer as a museum and retail center.

Backed by arts patron Danah Fayman, the San Diego Art Center is projected to become an art mecca for downtown.

The historic 62-year-old, 1,400-seat Balboa Theater, currently operating as a second-run movie house, has been the center of controversy since February, when a group favoring the preservation of the building as a legitimate theater mounted a fervent campaign to prevent its conversion.

On Tuesday, 20 people spoke in council chambers against converting the theater to a museum, and council members expressed their own misgivings about the loss of the theater, which stands at the corner of the $140-million Horton Plaza retail center. “There’s no one on this council who wouldn’t rather have that theater kept,” Mayor Roger Hedgecock said, adding, “We’re not going to win on this issue, no matter what the majority vote is.”

Art Center backers have negotiated with the city for two years and have spent more than $500,000 on the conversion effort.

Several of those speaking against condemnation could not provide the council with an alternative proposal to the Art Center use of the theater.

The mayor tried to sum up the council’s feelings. “I know where my heart is. My heart is (saying) let’s keep the theater . . . (The move to save the Balboa Theater) isn’t supported by real, economic, viable proposals other than wishful thinking.”