Legal fight brewing over Fresno’s Tower Theatre. Actor Audra McDonald donated to cause
A legal fight is brewing in an attempt to prevent the sale of Fresno’s Tower Theatre to Adventure Church.
A “Save The Tower Theatre Legal Fund” created Thursday on GoFundMe had raised nearly $22,000 for that cause by Friday afternoon.
Actor and Broadway star Audra McDonald, who was raised in Fresno, donated $1,000 to that fund, a GoFundMe spokesperson confirmed.
McDonald tweeted about saving the theatre on Wednesday, retweeting a message from comedian Sarah Silverman urging celebrities to help buy it.
The sale to the church is in escrow and was expected to close Monday, Feb. 15.
The legal fund for the Tower Theatre is organized by Annalisa Perea and Tyler Mackey. Perea is a member of the Tower District design review committee through the city and president of the State Center Community College District board. Mackey is executive director of the Tower District Marketing Committee.
Opponents of the sale have said selling the theater to a church is in violation of city zoning rules and a community plan for the Tower District. Among the issues: That liquor licenses are not supposed to be issued to businesses within 1,000 feet of a church. Sequoia Brewing Company is adjacent to the theater.
“This could also displace many local non-profit film festivals, non-profit live performance festivals and even Sunday opera performances,” the GoFundMe states.
The legal fund states that over 1,000 people, businesses and groups signed a letter to the city of Fresno demanding that the city “intervene to prevent the sale and subsequent rezone.”
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer previously offered to help Adventure Church find another building, saying the church could operate out of the Fresno Veterans Memorial Auditorium through a lease with the city.
“The property owners and the current buyers have not been persuaded,” organizers of the legal fund wrote, “and have instead elected to press on in defiance and threaten to pursue legal action rather than the traditional application process for permits irrespective of the legal rights of Sequoia Brewing Company, the community and the City of Fresno.”
Perea said the legal fund will help support Sequoia Brewing in exercising its legal right to purchase the building.
Miranda Mayo, another actor from Fresno, is listed as donating to the GoFundMe, $2,200 in all. The Fools Collaborative also has a “Save Tower Fund” on its website.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 1:50 PM.
