Neighborhood focus of theater upgrade.

The projected opening of a revamped Reseda Theater is at least 18 months away but that hasn't dimmed hopes the $8 million project will spark resurgence in that part of the San Fernando Valley.

The Los Angeles City Council last month approved an agreement with the owner of high-profile properties in Hollywood including the Kodak Theatre to renovate the shuttered Valley theater into a nightclub and live entertainment venue.

The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency pitched in $4.3 million for the project with developer The CIM Group picking up the balance.

The agency foresees much demographic support in the west Valley for the project considering its close proximity to California State University Northridge to the north and Warner Center to the west, said Leslie Lambert, a CRA regional administrator.

"We're banking on the fact that given its uniqueness (the theater) will be a destination," Lambert said.

The theater had been a centerpiece of community activity in the area of Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way since its opening in the late 1940s through the 1980s when it began to fall into disrepair. The 350-seat theater closed in 1988.

In 2004, the CRA stepped in and paid $1.3 million for the theater, pledging to breathe new life into the dilapidated venue. Under a development agreement. The CIM Group takes ownership of the building and of an adjacent building in the 7200 block of Canby Avenue to be demolished for a parking lot.

The CRA chose CIM from three developers submitting proposals for the property.

The developer was interested in coming to the Valley because the area is underserved for live entertainment and it was a good place to start to put Reseda in the minds of people as a destination spot, said Scott Denham, an associate with The CIM Group.

"Although it's in the middle of the Valley, it's a place that people tend to drive by," Denham said.

Renovation work on the Reseda Theater is expected to begin in six to nine months and be completed in another nine months. Once it is up and running, officials hope that success will breed success and attract other development projects, especially along the underutilized Sherman Way business corridor.

"I believe it will be the spark to enhance the business environment and the people coming to Reseda," said Councilman Dennis Zine.

As an example of how new development can turn around a decaying area, Zine pointed to the Madrid Theater in Canoga Park, which also falls in his district.

Damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Madrid was brought back to life in 1998 by federal and city funds. Originally operated by the city, the theater is now under the management of the not for profit Valley Cultural Center.

During the time the VCC has managed the theater, its budget has increased from $439,000 to $800,000 and has solid bookings of musical and dance acts for more than 200 days of the year, primarily from the Performing Arts Center and Valley Performing Arts Center West.

Vacancy rates in the vicinity of the Madrid have dropped to nearly zero since it started operating and the neighborhood as a whole saw a "facelift," said Lambert, of the CRA.

In 2005, Canoga Park was given the title of All-American City by the National Civic League in recognition of civic excellence.

"If you start improving the environment then people want to venture into there," Zine added. "If it's all decayed, no one wants to venture into it and they'll go someplace else."

Lambert and Zine hope for a similar transformation in Reseda from CIM, which has been responsible for redevelopment projects in Santa Monica at the Third Street Promenade, the Old Town section in Pasadena and the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego.

But the company is best known as the owner of properties in Hollywood. including the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards, and the Hollywood and Highland retail and entertainment complex, which have been credited with helping make the area a nighttime destination hotspot.

BY MARK R. MADLER

Staff Reporter