- ‘”A lot of people in the preservation community spent a lot of time advocating for that building. So we’re happy a tenant is going to use it.”’ -- PAC*SJ President Pat Curia as quoted in the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose’s city council on June 27, 2001 agreed to lease the Jose Theatre to the Improv Comedy Club for ten years at below market rent. The theatre, which will open by Spring 2002, will seat 500.
The Jose, built in 1904 as a vaudeville house, is the oldest theater in San Jose. Once host to well-known performers such as Harry Houdini, “its existence was threatened in 1996 by a developer who wanted to demolish the auditorium,” wrote San Jose Mercury News reporter Edwin Garcia. “Preservationists fought to save the building and eventually the city took it over” in settlement of PAC*SJ’s lawsuit for violation of the California environmental impact law.
“’A lot of people in the preservation community spent a lot of time advocating for that building,’” PAC*SJ president Pat Curia told the Mercury News. “So we’re happy a tenant is going to use it. Its location is prominent for people that are walking through downtown.’”
The Redevelopment Agency (SJRA) solicited proposals from developers selected The Improv from among five solid proposals for reopening the Jose. (See, “Marquee Set to Glow Again at the Jose Theatre, Continuity, Winter 2001, at p.8). “’Almost all potential tenants would have needed a great deal of ongoing assistance,’” SJRA director Susan Shick said in the Mercury News.
Although the City will restore the theatre for $3.4 million and pay tenant improvements, “’the lease is greatly improved over past deals we’ve done,’” according to councilmember Dave Cortese.
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Updated Sept 2001