Fresno’s Tower Theatre has another bidder. Here’s who’s looking to buy area icon
Owners of a longtime Fresno catering company have put in a bid to buy the historic Tower Theatre days after its potential sale to a church drew controversy.
The 81-year-old theater and surrounding spaces gained a bid Friday from the owners of The Painted Table, according to co-owner Jeromie Garza-Hansen.
“We’ve decided that putting in an offer to purchase the Tower Theatre properties is the right thing to do for our Tower business community and for the greater Tower District community as a whole,” Garza-Hansen said.
The Painted Table’s owners said they attended a recent Tower virtual community meeting of more than 250 people. Residents primarily spoke against a potential rezoning of the theater, according to the Tower District Marketing Committee.
Committee member Annalisa Perea said the restaurant owners would be a good fit for the community.
“The primary concerns that we heard from the community were that preserving the historical, cultural and economic integrity of the Tower Theatre are of the utmost priority,” Perea said in a news release.
Adventure Community Church leaders announced last week they intended to buy the property.
The bids for a sale have not been confirmed, but the website quantumlisting.com shows it listed for $6.5 million in October.
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.
“Events are 100% the primary function of the theater, with church services being incidental,” the letter states.
But to be used as a church, the building would need to be rezoned. The process would be lengthy — six months at least — and include hearings before the planning commission and city council, according to city officials.
The 700-plus seat theater was the city’s first suburban cinema, built in 1939. It quickly became the keystone of what would become the Tower District and was refurbished in 1990.
Tower District residents and supporters have openly worried that rezoning and adding a church to the district would damper the nightlife and culture of the area.
Painted Table in community
The Painted Table has been a member of the Tower Marketing Committee for 10 years, according to Tyler Mackey, executive director of the committee.
“The Tower District business district depends on the Tower Theatre and its operation as an entertainment venue in the best of times,” Mackey said in a news release, “and this maintaining of the theater’s traditional role in the community by a trusted and well established community partner like The Painted Table sets everyone up for a stronger recovery and future success.”
The latest news comes after The Painted Table’s owners said they have purchased Tornino’s Banquets’ business and announced they would move from next to the theater to Blackstone and Shaw avenues. They said the move was not related to the church’s interest in the building.
“We hope to have the opportunity to preserve the Tower Theatre as an entertainment venue that the community can be proud of and enjoy for generations to come,” Garza-Hansen said.
Adventure Community Church has not replied to requests for comment.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 4:44 PM.
