Funding Woes Delay Balboa Theater’s Reopening

The reopening of the historic Balboa Theater for live stage productions and art house films has been postponed for at least a year because the project is short millions of dollars.

Fund-raising to restore the 73-year-old theater on the Newport peninsula has fallen behind, said board members of the Balboa Theater Performing Arts Center Foundation.

The initial goal was to open later this year or early next year, converting the theater into a venue for musicals, live concerts, plays, children’s productions and movie screenings.

“We’ve rescheduled the opening several times,” conceded foundation President Dayna Pettit.

Organizers say they need $3 million more in donations. The foundation already has raised $1.5 million for the first phase of construction, which will include seismic upgrades and building a lower level to accommodate restrooms, offices and dressing rooms.

Board members want enough of a financial cushion to ensure that the project gets completed. An endowment of $500,000 to $1 million must be established for the theater’s first year of operation.

“It’s all so unpredictable at this point and it all depends on fund-raising,” said Michele Roberge, the executive director of the foundation, which received an unexpected $10,000 donation from a resident Monday. At least $20,000 has been raised in the last couple of months, organizers say.

Donations have trickled in slowly this summer, in part because most potential donors are on vacation, Roberge said. “We have about 30 people now who are willing to contribute. But most of the campaign effort has been by word of mouth,” he said.

The campaign will kick into high gear in September. Newport Beach residents will receive notices of the fund drive in their September water bills. Newspaper and direct-mail advertisements will appear through early October. A live concert at the Balboa Pavilion on Oct. 5 and a 5K run on Oct. 28 will be part of the fund-raising effort.

Built in 1927, the vintage theater near Newport Bay was used as a vaudeville house and movie palace. It was vacated in 1992 after seawater seeped into the building, creating a “sandbox” inside the theater that became infested with insects and pigeons.

“What we’re trying to create is a high-tech, jazzy theater with 350 stadium-style seats,” said Craig Smith, president of the project’s architectural firm, Holmes and Narver.

The plan is to raise $1 million in large donations. There will also be a push for smaller contributions in a “2,000 in 2000” campaign--where 2,000 benefactors donating $1,000 each will be sought. “We want to get as many people involved as possible,” Roberge said.

Birtcher Construction Services is managing renovations that are expected to take no more than 10 months to complete, organizers say. Construction will resume in September, after the city has approved permits for the project.