Santa Monica and Taper, Too? : Theater: A donor’s offer could pave way for Mark Taper Forum to open a mid-sized venue at Bergamot Station as its second space.

An anonymous donor has offered the Mark Taper Forum a chance to own a building in a Santa Monica arts complex for use as the Taper’s long-sought mid-sized theater.

The building is on the southwest side of the Bergamot Station gallery complex, near Michigan Avenue and Cloverfield Boulevard in Santa Monica. Formerly part of the American Appliance industrial center, the building would have to be converted into a theater. The Taper wants a facility seating between 300 and 400.

The project is still contingent on purchase of the property and additional fund-raising, according to Taper artistic director Gordon Davidson.

On Tuesday evening, Davidson addressed the Santa Monica City Council as it discussed a zoning change that would permit plans for the project to continue. He told the council and the radio and cable TV audiences that tune in to council broadcasts that the project presents “an opportunity to create an extraordinary theater.”

The theater would be used for educational programs, for “interactions with film and TV” and for new plays, which might “have the imprimatur of ‘premiered in Santa Monica’ and then move to the Music Center.” Seeking to squelch any fears that Santa Monica might end up paying for the project, Davidson said, “We won’t have to come to you for continuing support.”

“Welcome to Santa Monica,” said Mayor Paul Rosenstein after Davidson’s remarks. Later in the evening, the council tentatively approved the zoning change (which affects an area much larger than the proposed Taper site).

After speaking to the council, Davidson briefly discussed the appeal of the project. Bergamot Station, already home to more than 20 galleries and additional artists’ studios and design offices, “is so user-friendly,” he said. “It has a certain roughness and a sense of adventure.” He spoke of “the physical generosity, the expansiveness” of the space. The main building Davidson seeks to obtain has 26,700 square feet, while an adjacent building that probably would be part of the Taper purchase would add another 7,500 square feet.

“I’ve looked everywhere” in search of a mid-sized theater, Davidson said. He acknowledged that the Westside, where he lives, “has been interpreted to represent a certain level of income.” But the city of Santa Monica “has a wider socioeconomic range” than some other Westside areas, he said, “and that interests me a lot.” The proposed site “is easily accessible (just off the Santa Monica Freeway) and diverse, and most important, something is already happening there.”

Davidson said that if the project goes through, all programs currently presented at the 99-seat Taper, Too, at the Los Angeles County-owned John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood would move to Santa Monica.

Davidson and attorney Channing Johnson, representing the philanthropist who has offered to buy the property for the Taper, asked the City Council to approve zoning that would allow live theater in the area without conditional-use permits--which require city approval on a case-by-case basis and therefore can lead to delays.

“I’ve never seen a city that had a problem with the proliferation of live theater,” Johnson said. But the council retained the requirement for use permits.

Asked if the proposed theater has a name yet, Davidson replied, “You got a big check?” Although the donor’s gift would cover the cost of purchasing the buildings from American Appliance, Davidson wants to raise a large endowment to finance operations of the theater. “I don’t wish to siphon off Music Center money,” he said.

The board of Center Theatre Group, which operates the Taper, has approved “the concept of trying to see if this can happen,” Davidson said, but additional board approvals would be necessary for the project to move forward.