Tower Theatre will still host events, per sale terms. Rezone needed, Fresno councilman says

One of Fresno’s most iconic — and historic — theaters is being sold and its new owner will be a church.

The sale of the 81-year old Tower Theatre, rumored for months, is currently in escrow. The price of the sale has not been confirmed, but the website quantumlisting.com shows it listed for $6.5 million in October.

And Adventure Community Church has revealed just how it plans to use the theater at East Olive and North Wishon avenues.

In a letter to the city’s planning and development department dated Dec. 7, the church said it will continue to host events at the theater as a stipulation of the sale from the current owner.

“Events are 100% the primary function of the theater, with church services being incidental,” the letter states.

That could include concerts, theater and performing arts shows along with city events and community functions. Church services would happen on Sundays and occasionally once a month on Wednesdays barring other scheduled events, at a two-to-one ratio — two events per each church service.

That would eventually expand to a three-to-one ratio, with a goal of 150 events per year. The theater hosted 200 events in 2019, according to the letter.

The restaurants on the block-size property — including Sequoia Brewing Company and Me-n-Ed’s — would continue to operate as normal.

Rezoning needed, Fresno councilmember says

It is not clear if or how the stipulations would be enforced post sale, but by claiming its use as incidental, the church is hoping to forgo the process of rezoning the building, says Fresno City councilmember Miguel Arias.

On Tuesday, Arias said the building would need to be rezoned before it could be used as church and that the city is sending formal correspondence stating as much this week. The process will be lengthy — six months at least — and include stops before the planning commission and city council.

“This would be the most significant change in land use in Tower District history,” he says.

At stake is the cultural experience and identity of the Tower District “as well as the viability, economic recovery of the entire business district and surrounding neighborhood,” according to Save the Tower Theatre, a Facebook page created on Sunday to share information and raise awareness of the sale.

Allowing the church to permanently operate in the theater would compromise the conditional use permits of the existing bars, restaurants and nightclubs within the district, according to Tyler Mackey, who created the page in support of existing municipal code, “as agreed upon by the community over many years of public input and planning.”

Bars, marijuana dispensaries near a church?

Those businesses would continue to operate, but their permits and liquor licenses could be in jeopardy at the point they needed to be renewed or sold.

“It’s not if, it’s when that happens,” says Arias, noting the Tower District is always in flux with new businesses and restaurants opening and old ones being sold or revamped.

“It would handicap a whole block of the entertainment district.”

That could include several marijuana dispensaries. At least two businesses have applied for Commercial Cannabis permits through the city with addresses near the theater in areas currently deemed eligible for such use.

Those business permits would be awarded before the theater could get rezoned, Arias says, but they are up for renewal every five years, at which time the proximity of the church would come into question. Generally, that distance needs to be about 1,000 feet.

Cannabis licenses, in addition to the permit, are renewed annually, Arias says.

How will Tower District community react?

Built in 1939 (and restored in 1990) the 700-plus seat 20,000-plus square-foot theater was the city’s first suburban cinema. It quickly become the keystone of what would become the Tower District.

Over the years it has retained that significance, playing host to major touring musicians (BB King for example) and numerous local events (including the monthly Fresno Filmworks series).

It has also hosted the annual LGBTQ film festival Reel Pride and is located at the apex of the several large community events, including the annual pride parade, leaving some to raised concerns about whether the church will be good community partner. A post of the blog site Gay Central Valley called the church conservative and anti-gay, and wondered how the ownership change would affect LGBTQ events and others.

Nick Jones, who owns the beer bar FresBrew just across Olive from the theater, said on Twitter he has already had run-ins with the church’s congregation.

“I’m in no way anti religion/church. I’m anti them yelling at our guests to not visit our business (after months of being closed) from across street, then planting themselves on both sides of our entrance asking guests if they believe in god pre-entry last time we got to operate,” he tweeted in response to news of the sale.

Adventure Community Church has not replied to requests for comment.

What happens next?

Once the sale goes through, the church will have to apply to have the building rezoned if it wants to continue with church activities, Arias says.

There will be a comment period and the application will be reviewed and hearings held with several committees before going to the city council.

At each step in the process, conditions, changes and rejections can occur, Arias says.

“The public will have opportunities to provide feedback and be involved in the process,” he says.