Funding for Old Theater to Be Studied

Cost overruns for renovation of the historic El Portal theater in North Hollywood have sparked a dispute over who should pay.

The head of a city advisory panel objected Thursday to City Council President John Ferraro’s proposal to spend $350,000 more in city funds on a project that has already received more than $4.2 million in taxpayer money.

“With all the financial problems the city has, it has no business funding something like this that is not a high priority,” said Glenn Hoiby, chairman of the North Hollywood Redevelopment Project Area Committee. “The city has other, higher priorities.”

Hoiby said the Actors Alley theater troupe, which recently reopened the venue, should raise the funds privately. The money is needed to cover the unexpected costs of bringing the 74-year-old theater into compliance with city code.

The project has long been star-crossed. Originally the city redevelopment agency provided $250,000 to renovate the former movie palace, but just before the theater was set to open, the 1994 Northridge earthquake struck, causing extensive damage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided a $1.3-million grant for renovation in 1996 and then, after long negotiations, approved another grant in 1998 that brought its total contribution to about $4 million.

Ferraro said the new city funding is justified, in part because revised and stricter city building codes contributed to the higher cost.

“As with many historic buildings, it is a challenge to maintain the architectural character and current building and safety codes,” Ferraro said. “As the project proceeded there have been a number of additional requirements that were placed on the construction that added cost to this rehabilitation.”

The theater group, which has a 29-year lease with the private owners of the building, opened its new 390-seat main theater in January, renaming it the El Portal Center for the Arts.

Higher-than-anticipated costs were incurred to meet city rules for strengthening the building against earthquakes and installing automatic fire sprinklers, according to Robert Caine, managing director of Actors Alley.

“There were some overruns,” he said. “We are trying to get some help.”

Most of the additional costs are for work funded on a temporary basis with private bank loans and already completed. The building is 98% complete, Caine said.

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The theater company has raised about $800,000 from private donors to cover part of the cost of renovation. The troupe would use the city grant to pay off the bank loans and the remaining contractors’ bills.

“It is a stabilizing force in the North Hollywood area,” Caine said of the theater. “It’s bringing businesses in. It is also preserving a part of the city’s history.”

The Los Angeles City Council has asked for more study of the question.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said he may end up voting for the El Portal funding, but he believes any money from the redevelopment agency should be open to proposals from all council districts.

“I don’t want money disappearing before other areas have a chance to compete for it,” Ridley-Thomas said Thursday.

Councilman Nick Pacheco also objected to the fast-track approach to the funding proposal.

The proposal, Pacheco said, “just dropped in our lap at the last minute here and has not worked its way through committee.”

Hoiby and other members of the citizens advisory panel said the redevelopment agency has already invested too much in the theater.

“With millions of dollars in government funds having gone into that building, it is time for them to stand on their own two feet and be self-sufficient and not be dependent on the taxpayers to keep bailing them out,” Hoiby said.