City Agrees to Purchase and Renovate Aged Theater

The San Diego City Council on Monday completed arrangements to buy the dilapidated North Park Theater, authorizing payment of $905,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for the 63-year-old movie house despite a staff recommendation that the best thing to do would be to demolish it and redevelop the land it sits on.

The council also approved a recommendation that the city staff immediately seek $210,000 to begin repairs on the theater, which needs $1.4 million in renovations just to meet code requirements and $2.3 million more to become usable as a theater, according to a consultant’s report.

Purchase of the theater, owned by the Horizon Christian Fellowship, has been championed by outgoing City Councilwoman Gloria McColl, who said Monday that the building is historic and could become a cornerstone of the planned redevelopment of North Park.

Councilman-elect John Hartley, who will be sworn in Dec. 4, and community leaders made the same arguments before the council voted, 7 to 0, with Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer absent, to approve the purchase.

Councilman Bob Filner, a bitter critic of the purchase for two years, voted for it. He said afterward that a negative vote would not have affected the outcome.

An engineering analysis of the building at 29th Street and University Avenue has shown that it is unsafe according to the city’s building code because the roof is not adequately anchored to the walls, making it dangerous in high winds or earthquakes.

There is a large crack in a second-floor weight-bearing beam, and part of the mezzanine, built without a building permit, must be removed or rebuilt in accordance with the building code.

The engineers’ report also concludes that the theater could not support itself as a performing arts institution.

Monday’s vote cleared the way for the city to begin soliciting suggestions on how to renovate the building and perhaps turn it into a working theater again. It also established an agreement between the city and the State Historic Preservation Office that will require the city to consult with the state agency before any renovations are made.

The agreement was necessary before release of the block grant funds by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The state agency will determine whether the theater is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.