Anaheim Council OKs Reopening of Concert Theater

Plans to reopen the former Celebrity Theatre, which officials say is key to revitalizing the downtown, received enthusiastic support this week from the City Council.

The 2,500-seat theater, vacant for nearly two years, will reopen in January as the Freedman Forum Concert Theater. Theater officials already booked recording artist Kenny Rogers for Jan. 24-26, and plan to bring other nationally recognized performers in coming months.

Under an agreement approved Tuesday by the City Council, the city will continue leasing parking spaces to venue operators for use during evening and weekend events.

Mayor Tom Daly, who was joined by his council colleagues in voting unanimously to approve the new parking lease, said it is “very, very important to the downtown vibrancy to have the theater up and running.”

The charitable organization that owns the theater, the Leo Freedman Foundation, has been leasing 650 parking spaces at City Hall and at a neighboring city-owned lot. The neighboring lot will become unavailable, however, when construction begins on the first phase of the city’s Downtown Community Center, an $8-million facility scheduled to open in mid-1997 on Philadelphia Street between Center Street and Broadway.

Under the amended lease, theater parking will be available at City Hall and at other city-owned lots that will not be affected by the community center construction.

A study by a traffic engineering firm found that there are enough parking spaces in the Civic Center area to accommodate projected demand during activities at the theater and the community center.

The theater and community center are expected to attract large numbers of people to the downtown area, city officials said, and thus provide a financial boost to local businesses.