LOCAL : Newport Beach Developer Gives $1 Million to Irvine Theatre

A Newport Beach real estate developer and his wife have pledged $1 million toward completion of the 750-seat Irvine Theatre, it was announced today. Grateful theater officials have renamed the $17.6-million facility in their honor.

The theater, which is expected to open in October, has been dubbed the Irvine Barclay Theatre in recognition of Richard and Marjorie Barclay, whose pledge is the largest private contribution to date. The gift culminates a search for a major donor that began months ago, leaving $1.4 million still to be raised for construction of the building.

The theater is being financed jointly by the city of Irvine, UC Irvine and the Irvine Theatre Operating Company.

“Many people have stepped forward from the community, the university and the city to make this project possible,” Richard G. Sim, chairman of the theater’s board of directors, said in a press conference at the building site on the UCI campus. “The Barclays have done so in a quite remarkable fashion.”

In brief remarks, Richard Barclay said he was pleased to be playing “a minor role” in the project and was “very honored to be sharing the name” of the theater.

Barclay, 70, said he has lived in Orange County for 14 years and that the $1-million donation was his first major gift to an arts institution. He is chairman of Barclay Associates, Inc. He also was a founding partner of Barclay Hollander Curci, Inc. and a founding director of the Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors Assn.