Hall needs a rescuer

Pasadena’s famed concert hall, the Ambassador Auditorium, will be demolished unless the community can find a way to preserve it, according to the property’s owner, the Worldwide Church of God.

Bernard Schnippert, the church’s director of finance and planning, said the church’s preferred plan for residential development of its 48-acre site -- formerly the Ambassador College campus -- does not include preserving the auditorium, which is known for its superior acoustics. The church closed the campus, as well as the auditorium, in 1995 as revenue and church membership declined.

In an interview Wednesday, Schnippert said an alternative development plan has been prepared in case preservation becomes possible but added that for that to happen, the costs of owning and operating the hall would have to be assumed by the public or private sector, not the church.

The auditorium’s value has been estimated at $22 million by the city of Pasadena, and Schnippert said it would cost about $8 million to create a new parking structure if the hall were to be reopened. Annual maintenance costs for the building have been estimated at about $300,000 and programming costs at $3 million for the first three years.

“Our mission on the building is over; we aren’t going to keep it,” Schnippert said. “If it is not bought by the city or bought by a benefactor, the church will tear it down.” He added that a decision must be made in the first three months of 2003: “Hard decisions will be made at that point. There comes a point when you can’t leave all of your options open.”

Schnippert said any owner would have to program the auditorium in a manner consistent with the needs of the new residential community: “It couldn’t become, say, a rock hall.” He added that the church cannot leave the auditorium standing in hopes of a future buyer, because potential revenues from developing the land would be lost and because new residents would probably not want to move in next to an empty building.

In November 2001, Los Angeles-based developer Legacy Partners had proposed purchasing the campus for a 1,727-unit housing development. Legacy proposed donating the campus’ intimate, 1,250-seat performance hall to the city. While Pasadena would have owned it, the auditorium was to have been programmed and maintained by a new nonprofit with an oversight board made up of local arts patrons and with expenses paid through fund-raising, rental fees and ticket sales, not city funds.

Legacy abandoned its proposal early this year after neighbors objected to the density and the church denied the developer’s request for more time to address the issues. In July, the church hired Shea Homes as its chief development consultant to create a new master plan for the property. Under the new arrangement, the church will retain ownership of the development.

Donald Cosgrove, project management consultant for the city, said it remains open to assuming ownership of Ambassador Auditorium provided that it does not become responsible for its expenses. “When we were in the period dealing with Legacy, we wanted assurances that the city would not end up with any kind of financial responsibility for the operation or maintenance of the auditorium, and I think [the city’s] position remains exactly that,” Cosgrove said. “I think if Shea Partners and the church propose a similar arrangement to us, the city would certainly work with them to try to make it happen.”

Following the breakdown of the arrangement with Legacy Partners, members of a residents group called the Board for Ambassador Hall have continued to lobby for preservation of the facility. “Here’s this gem that has been likened to Carnegie Hall, and it could be torn down because the church wants to maximize its investment on the property,” board member Carol Henry said. “Given what they bought it for and what they’re going to get for it now, they can afford to be more generous.”

Henry acknowledged that with both the church and the city refusing to become financially responsible, an angel from the private sector probably represents Ambassador Auditorium’s only hope. “We’d love to find that angel,” she said.