Balboa Theater funds going to other arts projects
With the Balboa Theater likely to be put up for sale in the coming months, the foundation that for years has raised funds to resurrect the venue will give what’s left in its coffers to the city for future arts projects.
The foundation board, which recently disbanded, will donate $175,000 to the city through the nonprofit Newport Beach Arts Foundation. The gift will be earmarked for oversight by the Arts Commission.
“The agreement we made with the Balboa Theater Foundation leadership was that we would steward the money with the first consideration for the funds being art projects, primarily performing arts, and give priority to opportunities on the peninsula first,” said Commissioner Lynn Selich.
The commission has not yet set aside the funds for a specific project, Selich said.
Balboa Theater Foundation President Evelyn Hart, a former Newport mayor, acknowledged in a prepared statement that leaving the theater behind was a “difficult but necessary decision.”
“But,” she added, “after a hard look at key factors, such as the building’s deteriorating condition, community input for its use and a reality check in terms of costs and feasibility, the board rightly decided that the ongoing time, money and energy that has been spent in an attempt to rebuild the theater needed to come to an end.”
The theater, located at 707 E. Balboa Blvd., originally opened in 1928 as the Ritz Theater. It became the Balboa Theater in 1939, and in the early 1970s was taken over by Pussycat Theaters and operated for a couple years as an adult cinema that also staged vaudeville shows. Most recently, the storied venue was operated by Landmark Theaters, known for midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
The theater fell on hard times in the early 1990s and closed in 1992. When the city purchased the property in 1998 for $480,000, some residents were hopeful that the lifeless venue might be resuscitated.
The Balboa Theater Foundation, which has leased the theater from the city for the past 16 years, launched a fundraising effort to renovate the building, ultimately planning to transform it into a 320-seat, multiuse venue featuring musical acts, dance and theater performances, films and performing arts education.
However, fundraising was not successful enough to fund the project.
Transforming the aging venue, with its worn floor, deteriorated ceiling and leaky roof, would cost about $5.8 million, according to city estimates.
City Council members indicated during a study session in March that they were in favor of selling the theater.
Since city officials used money from a federal grant program to purchase the property, the city is required to hold a public hearing to allow residents to comment on the proposed sale.
The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. June 9 at the Civic Center.