Note: This story has been updated and corrected from the print edition.
Los Altos City Council members last week agreed to pursue the hiring of a capital campaign manager for a proposed new theater downtown.
Council members directed staff at their Nov. 12 meeting to engage with potential consultants for the job.
“Once we have an understanding of what a potential contract may look like, we will return to council for further discussion,” said City Manager Gabriel Engeland.
Council members disagreed on specifics concerning the length of time and amount of money for the consultant. The council action did not include specifics on either.
Members of the Los Altos Stage Company (LASC), which is leading the effort for the theater, asked council members for $5 million in pledges for the $25 million theater.
The proposal involves a 160-seat, 23,400-square-foot theater covering a portion of Parking Plaza 2, bordered by Second, Third and Main streets and San Antonio Road.
Theater supporters also sought $300,000 for a fundraising consultant over three years. Ideally, supporters envisioned breaking ground on the project in three years.
Council members held off on funding pledges, preferring to punt to a newly constituted council in the new year. Councilmember Sally Meadows, in particular, said there needed to be more process, which includes council budgeting for the theater and prioritizing it among other capital projects.
Downtown supporters showed up at the Nov. 12 meeting to advocate for the project, which they said would boost downtown vibrancy. In letters to the council, opponents expressed concerns over use of city resources on what one writer termed, “a vanity project.”
Vicki Reeder, president, and Gary Landis, artistic director for the Los Altos Stage Company, touted the benefits of a city steeped in culture via its own theater, and expressed how Los Altos should appreciate the “enormous gift” of a new theater that would be 80%-90% paid for by the stage company.
Some reminded the presenters, however, of a previous presentation in which backers promised a theater built without city funding.
“I don’t like it when someone gives me a gift and asks me to pay for it,” said Anne Paulson.
Further, council members such as Neysa Fligor expressed “surprise and concern” when she discovered that project advisors BuildingBlox Consulting did not ask any potential major donors for funding commitments.
Reeder and Landis acknowledged major private donors have yet to come forward. BuildingBlox emphasized the need to secure major donors for the fundraising effort to work.
“Without those early lead gifts, your probable outcomes dramatically decrease,” consultants said in their report.
Council members were asked to consider a $2.5 million pledge at the outset and the second $2.5 million when outside donations top $10 million. The council majority was open to pledges, but wanted to see funding progress before the city wrote checks.
“I want to be the last dollar in,” said Vice Mayor Pete Dailey.
How we got here
A 2018 Downtown Visioning Plan adopted by the council cited a theater in Plaza 2 as a potential draw for visitors.
“The (plan) itself identified a theater as the best use of a new facility in the downtown to improve vitality and vibrancy,” Reeder said.
A theater, proponents said, could bring business to surrounding restaurants and retailers. They sounded a similar refrain at last week’s council meeting.
“Absolutely we need to do this,” said Abby Ahrens, owner of Enchanté Boutique Hotel at San Antonio and Main.
Ahrens, a real estate veteran, also noted a new theater would free up the 100-seat Bus Barn Theater property at the civic center. Los Altos Stage Company is currently using Bus Barn for productions.
“That $5 million (value of the property) just paid for it (the pledge requests),” Ahrens said.
Scott Hunter, executive director of the Los Altos Village Association, said his board supported a downtown theater.
“We’re excited about the possibility,” he said.
Former Mayor Penny Lave said the theater would give people a reason to stay downtown.
As it is now, “All they can do is come and eat and go home,” she said.
Some residents questioned the financial feasibility of a new theater.
“I think the city needs to first have answers to questions raised about parking and ongoing operations and maintenance to ensure a clear understanding of all the expenses the city will bear in relation to a new theater,” wrote former Councilmember Megan Satterlee.
Freddie Wheeler of Los Altos Residents noted a lack of major donors and overall lack of public support based on a 2021 survey her group conducted.
Council reaction
Even the most supportive of council members felt a need to balance that support with their fiduciary responsibilities.
Reeder and Landis noted the stage company has been financially successful even as other Bay Area theater groups have struggled and shut down. Consultants cited demand for a new theater.
But Dailey asked, “Does the demand sustain a theater operating efficiently and effectively?”
He took note of new theater operating costs estimated at $1.5 million annually – about double what LASC is paying now for Bus Barn.
Fligor reminded the council that a new theater would be a city-owned building which could serve other uses beyond LASC – events such as concerts and lectures.
“I respect the stage company,” Meadows said. “But I also respect the process that we go through as a council and a city when we look at projects.”
A theater was not among council’s priority projects for this year. Meadows felt like committing now would be “shortcutting” the process to the detriment of the other prioritized projects.
Councilmember Lynette Lee Eng was concerned such a project would undermine funding of a new police station.
“There is demand for a theater but there is also demand for our public to feel safe,” she said. “It’s important to know if our budget can sustain this. You need to inform the public what the costs are.”
Asked for, but not acted on at last week’s meeting, was a LASC request to extend a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Los Altos that has the city reserving Parking Plaza 2 for the project. That MOU is set to expire Nov. 9, 2025.
