GLENDALE : Civic Auditorium Plans Scaled Down

A planned renovation and expansion of the Glendale Civic Auditorium that would have turned the aging building into a modern, mini-convention center has been scrapped in favor a scaled-down face-lift.

The City Council voted Tuesday to search for an architect for the project, now called a rehabilitation, rather than a renovation.

Due to budget cuts in recent years and the possibility of a new auditorium in the city’s downtown, a 22,000-square-foot, two-story addition to the building has been shelved and the work will focus instead on structural and cosmetic improvements and compliance with disabled-access laws, officials said.

The 60,000-square-foot auditorium at Verdugo Road and Mountain Street, the site of trade shows, dances and other events each week, has been in need of constant repairs for years. The renovation, which has been in the planning stage since 1989, was aimed at fixing the auditorium’s trouble spots and also at making it capable of hosting larger events to increase its revenues, officials said.

The original renovation work was estimated to cost about $8 million. But the stripped-down rehabilitation will cost about $4 million.

The project will include upgrades to utilities, a new marquee, landscaping, improved acoustics, improvements to the kitchen and construction of a pedestrian-auto court area, officials said.

Nello Iacono, the city’s parks department director, said the decision to postpone, and possibly cancel, the addition to the building was partly driven by the city’s downtown strategic plan, which includes a proposal for a new civic auditorium. The new building would be located in a “town center” envisioned near Brand Boulevard and Colorado Street that would be created possibly within the next decade.