Carlsbad Theater Won’t Be Razed; Owners View Movie House Option

The owners of the vaudeville-era Carlsbad Theater indicated this week that they have dropped plans to demolish the 63-year-old building and are negotiating to reopen it as a movie house showing classic films.

The Spanish-style landmark was closed 18 months ago when the city fire marshal declared it a hazard and insisted that safety measures must be completed before stage productions could continue.

Since then, owners Raymond and Celestine Normandin, represented by their son Paul Normandin, said they would raze the historic theater unless the city either bought it or helped pay for renovations.

A consultant’s report said it would cost $2.6 million to make the 1927 theater stronger in case of earthquake, restore the original front and interior, add new lighting and sound systems and install a heating-cooling system.

The Normandins threatened to seek a city demolition permit, believing that state law required all unreinforced masonry buildings like theirs to be strengthened by next year. The family argued that they couldn’t afford such expensive earthquake renovation and would lose their liability insurance on the property if they didn’t comply with the law.

However, Community Development Director Marty Orenyak has informed the Normandins that they misunderstood the law, which requires that old, unreinforced buildings simply be identified.

“I would like to emphasize that, until the state or city adopts additional legislation, no seismic retrofit requirement is necessary for your building,” according to Orenyak.

Normandin met with city officials Wednesday and said afterward that his family is no longer considering knocking down the theater after learning the seismic renovation isn’t required by next year.

“We think we’ve got the earthquake problem solved,” said Normandin.

He said Michael Markie, his real-estate agent, is negotiating with an unidentified but “experienced” tenant interested in reopening the theater and showing classic films, perhaps including some silent movies.

Normandin hopes the films will revive interest in the Carlsbad Theater.

“People can get a sense of the theater’s history. It’s a time capsule of 60 years,” he said.

He hopes that its reopening will spur the community to consider supporting more extensive use of the theater and inspire creating an organization to raise money for renovation.

But first, Normandin must satisfy city building and fire officials that the theater is safe. Measures to bring it up to code were the main topic of Wednesday’s meeting.

Orenyak said after the meeting that it would take minimal improvements for the theater to reopen soon as a movie house. However, he said it could cost $10,000 to $20,000 to make it suitable for stage productions.

“We told him today exactly what we told him 2 1/2 years ago” what it would take to make the structure fire safe, said Orenyak.

Meanwhile, the city staff this week released an executive summary to the earlier renovation report, and it reflected little enthusiasm for spending city funds on theater renovation.

Noting that Carlsbad already has a Cultural Arts Center, the summary said city participation in fixing up the Carlsbad Theater “may be premature or undesirable.”

It advised that the Normandins should consider hiring its own consultant to explore uses for the theater, “along with potential private funding sources,” before a decision to renovate the theater is made.