In 5th Year, Arts Plaza Is Solid Performer

Jutting from a hillside off the Ventura Freeway in a striking, sprawling, angular form that defies its suburban surroundings, it was gorgeous to one observer. In another’s eyes, in the politest terms she could muster, it flows “with an overabundance of cement.”

No matter how polarized the debate over its architectural style--or whether it should have even been built--few residents could take issue with then Mayor Alex Fiore’s assessment, when, on Oct. 21, 1994, after two decades of talk and dire predictions that the city was digging itself a money pit, the $86-million Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza finally opened.

It was, the mayor said then, “a history-making event.”

For some project supporters, the arts center would finally put suburban, well-to-do Thousand Oaks on the map culturally. This was the only center of its size between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

For other residents, convenience, more than prestige, was the draw. They could be entertained, without having to leave town.

Today the 208,000-square-foot plaza complex, with its two theaters, sweeping outdoor terraces, reflecting pool and City Hall and other government offices, will officially celebrate its fifth anniversary.

A daylong open house begins at 10 a.m. Members of the public are encouraged to tour backstage at the center’s 1,800-seat Fred Kavli Theatre for the Performing Arts, to speak with city officials about upcoming projects and to judge for themselves the center’s impact on the city.

Drawing Power

Five years after its unveiling, the 23-acre complex at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Dallas Drive has exceeded many backers’ expectations.

With 2,215 performances since its opening, it has served as a venue for top-notch entertainment, from operas, symphonies, ballets and musicals to headliner acts such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli, Jose Carreras, Tony Bennett and Willie Nelson, and hosted hundreds of children’s programs and local performances.

The shows have drawn 1.42 million people from Ventura County and throughout Southern California, and have been a selling point to businesses and residents considering locating here.

In a study commissioned last year by the city, Pepperdine University researchers found the arts plaza had indirectly contributed roughly $20 million annually to the local economy--drawing perhaps 1% of the city’s annual sales tax revenue.

Unlike the majority of city-owned civic centers of comparable size throughout the country--many subsidized by millions of city dollars each year--the Thousand Oaks center is in the black, city officials said.

The city’s theater department has nearly $1.5 million in reserves, due mostly to parking fees and concessions, and has protected itself from having to subsidize arts programs by putting the responsibility for fund-raising and underwriting in the hands of the local, nonprofit Alliance for the Arts.

The alliance, in turn, has aggressively targeted local philanthropists by selling naming rights for virtually every wall, seat and step in the house.

Moorpark businessman Fred Kavli pledged $2.5 million, and the 1,800-seat theater was named for him. For $1 million, the 400-seat theater where the City Council meets was named for patrons Janet and Ray Scherr. William D. and Beverly Dallas pledged $1.5 million, which put the Dallas name on the center’s driveway, which intersects Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

“We are blessed with demographics and we have some wonderful philanthropic people here,” said Patricia Moore, the alliance’s executive director, who along with a staff of five has raised $15.8 million to date in pledges for the center.

Most of the money goes into two endowments, whose interest is expected to cover operating costs in perpetuity. Alliance funds also underwrite symphonies, children’s shows and other programming that can’t make a profit from ticket sales.

The alliance is now seeking a $1-million donation for a trio of bronze horse sculptures--a 15,000-pound package--for display at the center.

“I’ll admit I had a lot of trepidation because I’ve seen a lot of auditoriums falter and go in the red and be supported by tax dollars,” said Jere Robings, a taxpayer watchdog who lives in Thousand Oaks. “But this one has done very well.”

Problems, Concerns

Still, with some remaining debt and continuing litigation, the city’s tab for the project is creeping past the $86-million mark.

On the slate: $450,000 to build a skylight in a lobby, add a second elevator to accommodate crowds, enhance parking and walkways, upgrade the theaters and build an on-site carpenter shop for in-house repairs.

Ongoing debate over the drab, industrial appearance of the so-called “copper curtain” sculpture decorating the structure’s freeway-facing wall has spun off a new debate over whether to spend what one staff member estimated to be $300,000 to adorn the curtain with an overlay in the shape of an oak tree.

Meanwhile, the city plans to spend $170,000 to fix what was supposed to be an energy efficient air-conditioning system that the city’s building department says has never worked properly.

And an undisclosed amount of money has gone into a tangle of litigation over various leaks in the plaza complex’s roofing. Red buckets labeled “official leak catchers” have been the interim solution when it rains.

Ultimately, the legacy of the plaza’s controversy is not the public financing method used to pay for its construction, or which contractors were selected to do the roofing or air-conditioning system.

It remains New Mexico architect Antoine Predock’s modern design, in beige stucco and sandstone over steel frame and concrete.

Despite national praise from many architectural critics, not all residents are pleased. “I still don’t like it,” said Gina Smurthwaite of Thousand Oaks, who at a City Council meeting years ago remarked dryly that the building “flows with an overabundance of cement.”

“I use it. I go to City Council meetings and I think the Arts Council has done a fabulous job with bringing a great variety of entertainment, concerts and ballets,” she said. “But I find the building cold and austere.

“Even in the last year, I’ve heard people come to the City Council and say, ‘I had friends come from out of town and say, “Why is the jail in the middle of the town?” ’ thinking the Civic Arts Plaza was a jail.”

On the other hand, Lynn Youngren of Moorpark, who has been singing with her chorale at the center since it opened and is scheduled to perform a solo there tonight, says the structure’s angles look “clean.”

“I like the flowers they’ve put flowing down the steps. I love the lights at night--it’s festive-looking all lit up,” she said.

But Mayor Linda Parks worries the center will be an example to other groups who want to bend the city’s strict aesthetic codes.

“Thousand Oaks doesn’t allow buildings over 35 feet in height,” she said. “It blocks views from the freeway, which the city also doesn’t allow. The concern is that once you open Pandora’s box, you might see more of that.”

A Complete City

That the plaza is not only operational but financially successful is a tremendous relief to those, including Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo, who staked their reputation on the project.

As a Thousand Oaks council member in the 1980s and earlier this decade, Schillo, along with fellow council member Fiore, risked a voter recall because of his support for the project. The recall efforts fizzled.

Schillo remembers how dozens of obstacles threatened the project, from political opposition from two former councilwomen to an economic downturn that forced the city to restructure the center’s financing plan. Eventually, the financing drew on existing road, sewer, housing and police funds, and $34 million in bonds.

To date, the city has repaid $7 million of $19 million in internal loans, and will be paying through 2025 on the bond measure. But that debt has a symbiotic structure; it will be repaid through property tax increases on commercial property in the Thousand Oaks Boulevard Redevelopment District--the very area leaders hope will benefit economically from the Civic Arts Plaza’s existence.

“There were questions of would it have enough money,” Schillo said. “It does. It has generated a great deal of sales tax for the city. It provides people a place to go where they can get home in 10 minutes, when before they had to go to L.A. It’s exceeded expectations.

“It brings to a close a period of time when the City Council wanted to make this a complete city where you could live and work and play without leaving the city.

“Now that’s come to be true. It is a complete city.”