While Fresno’s purchase of Tower Theatre lingers, owners file new motion against church

One week after Adventure Church threatened legal action against the city of Fresno for a multi-million deal to buy the historic Tower Theatre, the theater’s owners struck back against the church with a legal filing of their own.

In a court filing on Wednesday, lawyers for Tower Theatre Productions cited anti-SLAPP provisions in asking a judge to throw out the church’s pending case, which is scheduled to be heard in late October.

It also requested the judge award them legal fees incurred by the suit.

Adventure Church entered into a contract to buy the building in 2020 and was quickly met with controversy and community protests. The sale was ultimately halted by a series of legal battles between the theater’s owner and Sequoia Brewery, a tenant of the property.

The church tired to force the sale by adding to the legal fray in February, claiming the owners broke their agreement to sell the property. It continues to argue that its contract is current and valid and that $833,000 of church money has been held in escrow for more than a year.

Lawyers for the theater’s owners, and the city of Fresno, contend that the original sales agreement expired at the end of March 2021. In fact, the city, as part of its sale agreement, voted to indemnify both Sequoia Brewery and the Tower Theatre owner against legal action from the church.

This latest motion includes a series of emails in which an attorney for the theater’s owners discusses the pending sale with representatives from the church around that time.

The lawyer said that the ownership group had done “everything in its power” to make the sale happen, but had “been thwarted by circumstances beyond its control.” On several occasions, and as late as July 2021, the lawyer asked the church to cancel escrow, because the escrow period had expired and the deal as “originally contemplated” would never be completed.

Other emails included in the filings show one of the theater’s owners, Laurence Abbate, was trying last year to work out a new deal with the Adventure Church in late March through May and into June.

Meanwhile, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer issued a statement on Monday, saying he won’t — and can’t — veto the city’s purchase agreement for the theater. The future of theater will ultimately be decided by a judge.

“I will respect whatever action the court eventually takes,” Dyer wrote.

This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.