‘Unsafe in Earthquake’ : Close Balboa Theater, City Atty. Witt Urges

The historic Balboa Theater downtown should be closed because it would be unsafe in an earthquake, San Diego City Atty. John Witt has recommended.

Witt’s suggestion came after his office reviewed a recently completed engineering report on the theater, which has been the center of a controversy over whether it should be the home of the San Diego Art Center, including a museum and shops, or should be restored with a stage for live theater productions.

The report, by Blaylock-Willis & Associates, concluded that the building is unsafe and estimated that it would cost nearly $2.4 million to repair.

“We recommend the discontinuance of any occupancy of the Balboa Theater to minimize possible risk or injury to life and property should a seismic event occur,” Witt wrote in a memorandum Monday to Gerald Trimble, executive vice president of Centre City Development Corp., the city’s redevelopment arm.

Witt said in an interview that he feared that the city would be financially liable for any deaths or injuries because it has been told by a reliable firm that the building is not structurally sound.

CCDC will consider the report and Witt’s recommendation at a meeting Friday. But an order to close the theater--which is operating as a movie house--may be issued before then, said David Allsbrook, the agency’s projects director.

“We’re waiting to see the city Building Department’s review of the report,” Allsbrook said. “That should happen in the next day or so.”

If the department, as expected, concurs with the analyses made so far, CCDC would probably issue a 30-day order to vacate the premises. The theater operator, Walnut Properties, could close it sooner, Allsbrook said.

Allsbrook said the building would have been closed eventually because structural work needed on the theater would have to be done whether the building were to house the Art Center or a live theater. The city approved a contract in April with developer Chris Mortenson to gut the theater and renovate the building for the Art Center, a proposal that has been opposed ever since by a group known as “San Diegans to Save Our Balboa.”

“If the Art Center couldn’t go forward, we’d be left with the question of what to do with the building,” Allsbrook said. “The sentiment would probably be to leave it as a theater. Given that we know the building has serious structural problems, before we could in good conscience use it again as a theater, major structural work would have to be done.”