Museum Group Abandons Plans for Balboa Theater

The controversial effort to transform the historic Balboa Theater into a multimillion-dollar museum of modern art and design is dead, a victim of high costs and vigorous opposition from theater preservationists.

Danah Fayman, founder of the proposed San Diego Art Center museum and president of the museum’s board of directors, said Friday that the only thing left is to sign an official “termination agreement” with the Centre City Development Corp., the city’s downtown redevelopment agency, which had pledged to help in the conversion project.

“When we got to the real planning and what it would really cost, it was just going to be too expensive,” Fayman said. Construction alone would have cost $7.5 million.

Added to that, she said, were other staff, art rental and operating expenses that would have brought the total amount necessary to about $15 million.

“That sounded awfully high for San Diego . . . when we sat down and analyzed it,” Fayman said. “It’s disappointing. I think it’s a wonderful building and it should be used for something, but I don’t think it’s good for a theater.”

Future Uncertain

What happens next to the run-down 63-year-old theater, situated next to its sparkling new neighbor, Horton Plaza, is not clear. The city closed the theater last year because of fears that it would collapse in a major earthquake. Recently, part of a fire escape fell from the upper floors to the sidewalk, leading to the installation of plywood barriers on the sidewalk.

Preservationists, who criticized the proposed Art Center almost from its inception, two months ago revealed a plan to restore and operate the Balboa as a legitimate theater at a cost they estimate at between $2.5 million and $6.7 million.

That proposal, put forth by the new Balboa Theatre Foundation, has yet to analyzed by the CCDC, but Gerald Trimble, the agency’s head administrator, said Friday he has doubts about the idea because of its expense to the city.

For the near future, the CCDC intends to spend as much as $200,000 to “hermetically seal” the building and then fix and paint the outside. “This certainly isn’t an easy subject to be resolved,” Trimble said. “It may take awhile to resolve.”

Endorsed in 1983

In 1983, the CCDC endorsed the Art Center idea when it approved a development agreement with Chris Mortenson, a downtown builder known for restorations of old structures. The conversion of the Balboa called for taking the inside of the 1,400-seat theater and turning it into a large art museum, an auditorium, a bookstore, shops and offices.

Last year, however, Mortenson abandoned the project because revised plans had substantially reduced the amount of revenue-producing retail space. Art Center officials vowed to go it alone.

Then the Art Center, burdened with more than $650,000 in debts--about half of which still exist--closed its temporary gallery and bookstore in Horton Plaza, sending its plans for the Balboa into limbo.

Although the CCDC had promised to provide the Art Center $2.5 million to help convert the Balboa--provided the center’s directors raised the remaining $5 million--it wasn’t enough to make the project viable. Complicating matters, Fayman said, were tax law changes that made the project less attractive to investors and the steady drumbeat of criticism from theater preservationists.

Board to Remain Intact

Fayman said the board of directors will remain intact and will attempt to place the Art Center in one of the new high-rise office projects proposed for downtown.

“It was a good idea but it didn’t work,” she said. “Everything seemed to go against us . . . there was lots of opposition. It’s up to the pro-preservationist people to come up with new ways” to operate the Balboa.

Toni Michetti, president of the newly formed Balboa Theater Foundation, said in an interview that “it was clear to us the Art Center wasn’t going to proceed . . . that’s why we formed the foundation.”

Michetti said she and others who want the Balboa restored to a playhouse never opposed the concept of the Art Center, just that the theater was the wrong place for it.

Top Priority Sought

Citing the need for a large, 1,500-seat theater downtown, Michetti said the Balboa should receive top priority because it is now owned by the city. “All the attention should be put on the Balboa . . . it should be the first to go ahead,” she said.

Trimble says he’s not convinced the foundation is capable “of being a developer . . . and I don’t know if the City Council is very willing to” spend millions of dollars to rehabilitate the structure.

He also said that Jacquie Littlefield, owner of the little-used, 1,472-seat Spreckels Theatre at 121 Broadway, had recently contacted the CCDC. “They said they wanted to do something . . . but not specifically to this theater. We’re checking to see what it’s all about,” Trimble said.

Competition From Spreckels

A move to open the Spreckels to more use could further damage the efforts of the Balboa Theatre Foundation. That’s because a recent study for the City Council assessing downtown’s performing arts needs for the next decade called for the rehabilitation of the Spreckels Theatre.

“If only one theater were to be renovated, there is no doubt that this honor should go to the Spreckels Theatre from a purely technical standpoint,” the study said. “San Diego possesses in this building one of the finest theaters in the U.S.”

In contrast, the study said, the Balboa “presents the most significant problems for renovation due to its relatively shallow stage depth and small lobby.”