Council Returns Balboa Renovation Efforts to the Back Burner : Landmark: City refuses to spend $65,000 to hire consultant to search for an operator for the 68-year-old theater.

The San Diego City Council dealt a blow to the city’s arts community Tuesday by rejecting a plan to find a full-time operator for the Balboa Theatre in the hope of renovating the 68-year-old landmark, which has been dormant since 1986.

The council’s 6-1 vote, with Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Councilman Ron Roberts absent, puts the future of the theater in limbo and extends its dormancy indefinitely. Only Councilman Tom Behr voted to approve a timetable for renovating and reopening the theater.

Council members cited the national recession, which two labeled a depression, as the reason for their reluctance. Despite the $11 million in projected renovation costs, the council Tuesday was being asked to fund only $65,000 to hire a consultant, who would then begin looking for an operator.

Earlier this year, the Centre City Development Corp. voted unanimously to hire the consultant and locate an operator, with whom the city would map out a strategy for rehabilitating the former vaudeville and movie palace and having it reopened as a performing arts venue by 1995.

“It will be (dormant) indefinitely,” said Pam Hamilton, executive vice president of the CCDC. “I guess I’ll just have to continue to look at the options and bring it forward when I think something might have changed. We’ll continue to do with the Balboa what we’ve done.

“We inspect it regularly to make sure it’s secure and that the roof isn’t leaking,” she said. “Vacant buildings do deteriorate a lot faster than buildings which are occupied. But to some extent, (the continued dormancy) will increase the costs of restoration.”

Before leaving for an appointment, Roberts said he would have supported the CCDC recommendation had his vote made a difference. He said today’s economy cannot be measured against that of late 1994 or early 1995, and thus the city might be making a mistake.

Roberts’ comments were supported by numerous speakers who appeared on behalf of the theater, contrasted with three who spoke against it--all of whom represented the Spreckels Theatre, which, as a downtown booking house, is perceived as a competitor to a restored Balboa.

“This is pathetic,” said arts activist Steve Karo, who conceived the philanthropic Balboa Theatre Foundation. “How something so obvious can get screwed up so bad for so many years is beyond me. The obvious question is, ‘What are you going to do with it?’

“It’s been 20 years since the redevelopment plan to restore it was adopted” as part of the Horton Plaza Redevelopment Project, Karo said. “The council has missed dozens of obvious opportunities either to do something with it or get the heck out of the way and stop thwarting the efforts.”

Hamilton said the Balboa Theatre is one of the few remaining links in the Horton Plaza Redevelopment Project, the others being a proposed mixed-use project on 4th Avenue and new sidewalks in front of the Spreckels. Hamilton called a restored Balboa “vital” to downtown redevelopment.

She said the restoration would be financed with tax-allocation revenue bonds, with an eye toward renovating the building in 1994, followed by a “grand reopening” in July, 1995.

Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer said the city hopes eventually to renovate and reopen the theater, but it simply can’t do so now.

The Balboa, which opened in 1924, is prized for its resonant acoustics and 1,500 seats that make it a valuable “mid-size” venue. So far, six potential operators have expressed interest in running the theater as either a producing or booking venue.

Des McAnuff, artistic director of one of those, the La Jolla Playhouse, told the council Tuesday that a restored Balboa would give the city a dramatic arts venue comparable to the best on Broadway, such as the Martin Beck Theatre and the St. James Theatre in New York.

Other arts organizations that have shown an interest in running the Balboa are the Visual Arts Foundation of San Diego, which hopes to convert it to an international cinema center; Starlight Musical Theatre, which desires a home away from the low-flying planes that besiege its Balboa Park venue; the Pasadena Playhouse, which recently signed an agreement with the Poway Performing Arts Center but wants a presence in downtown San Diego; the Los Angeles-based Nederlander Co., and the city-owned San Diego Concourse, both of which would use it as a booking house for touring road shows.

The Balboa was converted to a movie house in the 1930s. It was purchased by the city in 1985 and closed a year later, deemed structurally unfit and dangerous in a major earthquake. It is one of three dormant theaters in San Diego, the others being the California Theatre and the North Park Theatre.

A 1988 study by the CCDC put the cost of restoring the Balboa at $11 million; more optimistic estimates run to at least $5 million. Karo said noted theater architect Richard McCann of Pasadena evaluated the theater a couple of years ago and placed the renovation cost at $2.4 million.

But the prevailing mood among council members Tuesday was that restoring the Balboa is the last thing the city needs in 1992. “Give it another year” seemed to be the message the council was sending to the CCDC and the six potential tenants.

“Please don’t tell me we’re not committing ourselves today,” said Councilwoman Judy McCarty, who introduced the motion to defeat the CCDC proposal. “Once we have an operator, there’s no way we’ll say no. We don’t have $11 million, and there’s no way we’re going to get $11 million.

“Unless someone from the private sector comes up with the money, I don’t know how this is going to happen the way you want it to happen,” she said. “And even if we had $11 million, we should probably use it for the homeless or for other projects. So I’m not prepared to make a commitment to you when I know we can’t keep those promises.”