A church is buying Fresno’s historic Tower Theatre. Why one group is voicing concerns

UPDATE: Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias told The Bee on Monday afternoon that the sale of the Tower Theatre is in escrow.

Arias also said that the building would need to go through rezoning before it could be used as church.

ORIGINAL STORY: Of the rumors bouncing around Fresno’s Tower District community of late, the imminent sale of the iconic Tower Theatre has been fairly persistent.

It popped up again this weekend, following multiple social media posts and the creation of a Save The Tower Theatre Facebook page.

Though unconfirmed, it is believed the 81-year-old theater may be in the process of quietly being sold to Adventure Community Church, which has been hosting Sunday services at the theater since March, when state and local governments shut down live entertainment venues to stop the spread of the conornavirus.

Messages to the church and the theater were not immediately returned as of Monday, but in July Tower Theatre manager Laurence Abbate, whose family owns the theater, asked how much longer it could last without help.

“It’s probably going to become something else. A church, a warehouse,” Abbate said at the time.

Concerns among LGBTQ community

Rumors of the sale were shared on the LGBTQ blog site Gay Central Valley in early December, with a user calling the church a conservative anti-gay group and wondering what impact a sale would have on cultural events like the Reel Pride Film Festival (which screens at the theater each year) and the gay pride parade (which culminates on the corner of Olive and Wishon avenues in front of the theater).

The user also wondered “where in the hell does a local non-profit church group get the $6.5M to make such a purchase with no one noticing?”

That’s the rumored asking price for the property.

While those concerns shouldn’t be ignored, they aren’t the main issue for businesses in the district and not the reason behind the Save the Tower Theatre page, says its creator, Tyler Mackey.

“This is not anti-church,” Mackey says.

Rather it is a call for consistent application of the city’s municipal code, which has developed with significant public input, “to ensure the community’s interest and stated desire for the future of their neighborhoods are respected and upheld,” according to the first post on Save the Tower Theatre page.

The church’s current use of the venue, aside from defying the state’s shelter-in-place orders, is “unauthorized” per the area’s established zoning codes and “threatens the cultural experience, identity of our district, as well as the viability, economic recovery of the entire business district and surrounding neighborhood,” the post says.

Tower District business concerns

There is concern that if the church were allowed to permanently operate in the theater, it would compromise the conditional use permits of the existing bars, restaurants and nightclubs within the district and limit the ability of future businesses to occupy areas adjacent to the theater with the need for special permits.

That would include the several marijuana dispensaries that have expressed interest in the area. Several businesses have already applied for Commercial Cannabis permits with addresses near the theater, says Mackey, who also serves as Executive Director for the Tower District Marketing Committee.

Those businesses could be expected to open in early 2022, though suddenly having a church operating in the neighborhood would potentially jeopardize those permits, Mackey says.

“It’s a flipping of the rug on everybody.”

The campaign has already been in touch with the new city administration of Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno City councilmembers Esmeralda Soria and Miguel Arias, who represent areas to the north and south of Olive Avenue. The campaign also plans to draft a letter that would spell out the concerns to be signed by area businesses owners.

The letter will be posted on its Facebook page.

“As a community, we need you to speak up by reaching out to City leaders and elected officials to implore them to hold every business equally accountable under the municipal code and preserve one of Fresno’s last historic film and entertainment venues — the cornerstone of our district.”

Mackey is not averse to the building being sold, especially if the sale is driven by a financial need.

“If they are hurting, we don’t want to tie them to that building,” he says. But he would like to see community leaders and elected officials help broker a deal with a buyer suited to the venue and the needs of district — perhaps an entertainment company.

“The Tower Theatre is a keystone,” he says.

Adventure Community Church was founded by Anthony and Mandy Flores in 2010 and operates two other locations in Fresno, including one on Palm Avenue just south of Olive near the theater.

The church had held a conference and other special events at the theater prior to starting Sunday services there.

This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 3:25 PM.