THEATER IN SPOTLIGHT; NOHO GROUP ASSAILS TROUPE'S REQUEST FOR LOAN.

Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer

North Hollywood leaders are angry over a proposed $250,000 loan to a small theater that has already received $550,000 in loans from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.

Members of the North Hollywood Project Area Committee are complaining that the city is spending taxpayer money frivolously by investing in a new two-stage American Renegade Repertory Theater Co. building on Magnolia Boulevard that they claim won't turn a profit or repay the loans.

After receiving a $500,000 earthquake-repair loan and $50,000 for facade improvements, the theater company Thursday asked the city for $250,000 to finish redeveloping the old building at 11136 Magnolia Blvd., which will house 99- and 48-seat theaters.

Members of the project committee have sent a letter to the city complaining about the loan request. The agency has tabled the funding proposal until Oct. 1 to more thoroughly review it, according to Walter Beaumont, the CRA's assistant project manager in North Hollywood.

But Beaumont said his agency stands by the theater company and will continue to support its owner, David Cox, as they work to revitalize a rundown area.

``We're going to make the best argument we can for completing this project,'' Beaumont said.

That has members of the CRA's loud and frequent critic, the North Hollywood Project Area Committee, outraged.

The committee is an elected advisory board made up of area business people and residents, created to advise the city on its redevelopment projects in North Hollywood.

Already engaged in a bitter fight with the city over a proposed studio development in the project area, the committee this week unleashed yet another verbal assault, questioning the agency's motives and condemning its actions.

``The CRA has admitted in their reports they have concerns about the theater being able to create even enough revenue to pay back its mortgage,'' said committee President Glenn Hoiby.

``This proposal for scarce taxpayer moneys to another theater group is another example of the CRA's continuing folly in giving away funds to support theater groups that eventually become bankrupt.''

But Beaumont, who admits Cox faces an uphill battle in creating enough revenue to repay the loans, said the advisory committee isn't looking at the big picture.

``We'd like to see the project finished,'' said Beaumont of Cox's theater renovation. ``We'd like to see other people step up to the plate to provide the funds, but it doesn't seem like anyone else is willing.''

Already having sunk $550,000 into the deal, Beaumont said, the CRA has too great an investment in the theater just to walk away now.

``You have a choice: Continue to fund the project and complete it, or you can say no more funds are available and the theater never gets finished and it sits there and the bank forecloses and you've got a mess,'' he said.

Hoiby isn't buying it.

``The unspoken reason for the loans, I think, is this money will generate a lot of very vocal public support from the theater. Whenever there is a public hearing, they come out en masse,'' he said.

Cox dismisses Hoiby and the committee as anti-CRA.

``He's a rabble-rouser,'' Cox said of Hoiby. ``He's on the opposite side of what is good for the community. He's so anti-CRA he can't see the forest through the trees.''

One of the NoHo Theater District's founders, Cox is passionate about redeveloping the area. He defends his support of the CRA because of its work in the community.

``Am I pro-CRA? I'm pro-NoHo,'' Cox said. ``And I've seen what the CRA has done for the area.''

Hoiby said before the theater gets any more cash, the advisory committee wants an audit done to find how the $550,000 is being spent.

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Photo, Map

PHOTO David Cox of the American Renegade Repertory Theater Co. is seeking a $250,000 loan to renovate a North Hollywood site.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News

MAP: Theater project