Long-stalled Balboa Theater restoration project gets infusion of funds

It took 16 years to finish the complex, sprawling Walt Disney Concert Hall, so 14 years to renovate Newport Beach’s historic but much smaller Balboa Theater may be a little too much suspense.

Just ask the City Council. Last week, the council voted to give the theater’s foundation $175,000 to revive long-stalled renovation work.

Arts-minded donors have also contributed $3 million since 1996. They envision a professional theater on an economically revitalized Balboa Peninsula. But despite this funding and a list of wealthy backers, the foundation has yet to finish the job. Some wonder when, if ever, the curtain will rise again.

“I think people are leery; people want to see if it will actually happen,” said Seth Siegel, chairman of the foundation board. His group plans to funnel the city’s grant to theater architect John Fisher of John Sergio Fisher and Associates, who will then finish the design work.

Over the years, the vision of the theater has grown to encompass an ambitious multi-use space with a rooftop deck and Art Deco accents. Its stage would accommodate live plays, operas and after-school arts programming. Its 300 seats would collapse to make room for banquets and dinner-theater cabaret.

And, of course, it would show films.

The Balboa Theater had screened everything from art films to classics revivals, pornography and, on a weekly basis, “ The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” for many years before it closed in 1992. In the early years, from 1928 to 1939, the theater hosted vaudeville and other small live productions.

But by the 1990s, tourists and locals alike had many other entertainment options. The theater’s operator couldn’t make enough to cover rising rent, and the owner couldn’t find a replacement. Then, in 1996, activists formed a group to save the building. They persuaded the city to purchase the structure for $480,000 and lease it to the foundation for 25 years at no charge.

Since then, a series of setbacks has caused the project to drag on.

It took two years to win approval from the California Coastal Commission, which granted the foundation a construction permit in 2008.

By then, the project had lost some momentum. Construction costs had skyrocketed. Negotiations to buy or lease an adjacent building for dressing rooms and an office collapsed in 2002. That was after the City Council had committed $1.4 million for the purchase.

“It came to a screeching halt,” said Nancy Gardner, a city councilwoman and former member of the theater Board. “People lost faith.”

Some have compared the Balboa’s plight to that of the Fox Theater renovation in Fullerton. There, the City Council approved a $6-million loan to move the process along — 22 years after the theater closed.

“Sometimes the trick is to hang on long enough until you gather some resources,” said Betsy Vigus, a curator at the Orange County Historical Society.

Many donors have promised to contribute funds for construction, said Siegel, the board chairman.

His group estimates that it will take an additional $4.5 million. Before they give, he said, donors want to see finished plans and building permits from the city.

“This is the line in the sand,” Siegel said.

By attracting heavy-hitters, such as Bergeson, the former state legislator who recently joined the board, and Jerry Mandel, past president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the board hopes to begin pulling in construction funding as soon as building permits are issued, which Seigel expects to occur within six months.

Bergeson said she joined the board because she liked the idea of the theater breathing life into Balboa Village, the area near the Balboa Pier.

In recent years many shops have turned over, and some residents say there are too many tattoo parlors and T-shirt vendors.

The theater project is “a good catalyst for revitalization,” Bergeson said.

Indeed, many council members at last week’s meeting cited the potential to revitalize that part of the peninsula and the increased sales and hotel tax revenues a bustling Balboa could generate.

“It’s quite clear that if the theater’s successful, there will be a return of dollars to the city,” said Councilman Michael Henn, whose district includes the Balboa Peninsula.

He and others argued that the city needs a professional performing arts theater and that these funds will help trigger additional donations for the construction.

“It’s a gamble; I think it’s well worthwhile,” Henn said. “We need a richer, fuller, broader arts scene in Newport Beach.”

With strong support for the project, some council members were perplexed at the foundation’s slow progress.

“With this many influential people behind the project,” Councilman Steven Rosansky said during the council meeting, “I don’t understand why the money has not been committed.”

“I’m not convinced after 13 years that they’re going to cross the finish line here,” he added.

Despite these concerns, the council voted unanimously to grant the foundation the money. Gardner suggested that the city make some modifications to its lease so the foundation would have to meet milestones or lose the building.

“One thing that has been lacking is a sense of urgency,” she said.

mike.reicher@latimes.com