1924 Lease Stipulates Uses for Alex Site

As if things weren’t complex enough in deciding what to do with the Alex Theatre, Glendale officials also have a will to deal with.

The will, based on a pact signed in 1924, requires that an office building be erected on the site if the Alex ceases to operate as a theater.

The will surfaced about two years ago when the Glendale Redevelopment Agency began looking into acquiring the site of the historic 1925 movie theater at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Redevelopment Director Jeanne Armstrong said.

Officials of Mann Theatres, which owns the Alex, had proposed that the city negotiate a deal to trade the Alex for interest in an eight-screen theater under construction in The Exchange, on Maryland Avenue north of Broadway in a two-block revitalization area.

But Mann doesn’t own the entire Alex site. The front portion, which contains the ornate neo-Greek columns, box office and 100-foot-high obelisk, is owned by the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Glendale, according to Los Angeles County records.

The church was bequeathed the property in 1986 in a will left by Dollie H. Kase, who died in 1981. She and her husband, Arthur C. Kase, who died earlier, had purchased the front two lots at 216 N. Brand Blvd. in 1920, before the theater was built, records show.

The couple signed an agreement in 1924 to lease the property for 99 years to the Glendale Theatre Co. for $350 a month. Originally, the entrance to the Alex featured an arcade of shops until the ornate entryway that exists today was built in 1940.

Ownership of the theater, actually built on lots that front Maryland, has since changed hands several times and is now owned by Mann, records show.

But the grand entry, on prime Brand Boulevard frontage, is retained by the church.

“Can you believe it? We own some of the best real estate on Brand, but get only $220 a month for it,” said June Sweetnam, the church clerk, who explained that a portion of the $350 monthly rent is paid to another individual named in the Kase will.

The 1924 document provides access to a theater at the rear of the property until the year 2023, with the strict proviso that should the property cease to operate as a theater for six months, then the lessee--the theater or current property owner, such as the city--must build a high-quality, multistory office building befitting the area.

Armstrong indicated that terms of the will could hold dire consequences for Mann, should it decide to close the Alex, or the city, if it buys the property for any use other than a theater.

Armstrong said city officials expect to meet with church directors within a few weeks to negotiate a purchase.

Mann’s proposals for a trade for use of the multiplex, expected to be completed early next summer, have not been pursued, Armstrong said.

Officials of Mann Theatres, a subsidiary of Cinamerica, did not return repeated calls from The Times. However, Armstrong said she believes that the chain intends to continue to operate the Alex with its giant movie screen.