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For immediate release: Nov. 11, 2002
OAKLAND, CA –
The City of Oakland will receive $375,000 from the Park Bond
Act of 2000 (Proposition 12) to help restore the exterior
facade of the long-vacant Fox Oakland Theater Building at
Telegraph Avenue and 19th Street in downtown Oakland, Friends
of the Oakland Fox (FOOF) has learned.
The Fox Oakland Theater Building Facade
Restoration Project is a small but very important part of
the much larger effort to restore and reuse the entire building,
which, besides the theater, includes 48 distinct storefronts
and occupies an entire block.
Actual restoration work on the facade will
not begin for at least a year, but progress reports will be
posted on FOOF's Web site (www.foxoakland.org)
as the City makes information available. No date has been
set for reopening the theater, but FOOF hopes to announce
the availability of public tours within a year and is working
hard to celebrate a grand reopening of the theater before
the end of the decade.
At its meeting in Riverside, Calif. on
Friday (Nov. 8) the State Historical Resources Commission
approved a grant of $375,000 for the project. Combined with
matching Central District Redevelopment funds from the City
of Oakland, project funding now totals $750,000.
The state received 58 applications for
grants from this final round of Prop. 12 funding. Approximately
$4.5 million was awarded for archeological and historic preservation
projects throughout California (see http://ohp.parks.ca.gov
for details.)
The goal of this phase of the Fox project
is to stabilize and restore the building's facade so that
future efforts to rehabilitate the theater and its commercial
wings will remain eligible for historic preservation investment
tax credits. The restoration of most of the building's exterior
facade will also eliminate blight and, it is hoped, stimulate
investment along Telegraph Avenue and throughout the Uptown
District
According to the City's grant application,
"It is critical that the momentum, begun with roof replacement
and made visible to the public with the marquee and neon blade
sign restoration, continue with cost-effective and highly
visible restoration work on the exterior of the building."
The grant is vital seed capital needed to leverage the many
millions of dollars that will be required to complete the
theater's full restoration.
The present condition of the building exterior
could adversely affect the marketing and success of future
residential and mixed-use development projects under negotiation
for nearby vacant land in the Uptown District. Restoration
of the facades may stimulate interest in the preservation
and reuse of the theater as well as nearby historical resources,
including the Oakland Floral Depot Building.
The 1928 Fox Oakland Theater Building occupies
a full block of Telegraph Ave. between 18th Street and 19th
Street. The complex has two L-shaped commercial wings of approximately
47,200 square feet surrounding a motion picture theater, which
originally seated between 3,200 and 3,800 patrons. Oakland
architect Maury I. Diggs is generally credited with the design
of the commercial wings while Charles P. Weeks and William
Day designed the theater with exotic Hindu-Islamic themes
throughout. The Fox Oakland Theater Building was recognized
as Oakland Landmark #23 on March 28, 1978 and was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places on February 2, 1979.
From its opening in 1928 until its closing
in 1962 the Fox Oakland Theater showed a regular bill of movies;
its two commercial wings were occupied by retail and office
tenants until 2000. By 1972 the theater had stopped hosting
special events and ceased showing movies altogether; its seats
were sold and removed in the following years. The few remaining
commercial tenants departed during the 1990s. When the City
of Oakland purchased the property in 1996, at a cost of $3
million, the entire complex was nearly vacant and in disrepair
due to weather, vandalism, and neglect.
In 1998, the City began a multi-phased
process of stabilizing and restoring the theater complex.
The first phase, completed in 2000, involved a full roof replacement
at a cost of $1 million. During 2001 the second phase, removal
and restoration of the theater's neon and sheet metal marquee
and blade sign, were completed for $650,000 (see Wagner Electric
Sign Co.'s wonderful photos at www.wagnersign.com/fox.html).
The third phase involved preparation of
a Master Plan by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates at a cost
of $350,000. This plan studied five potential reuse options
for the Fox costing from $19 million and to $67 million, and
included a market analysis, programmatic and architectural
studies for each option, cost data, financial projections,
historic resource evaluation, and community input.
During the first six months of 2000, the
City began work on what is now Phase 4, the Facade Restoration
Project. A condition analysis of the commercial storefronts
was completed and presented to the Oakland Landmarks Board
on March 13, 2000. Subsequently, work on plans and specifications
began but could not be completed due to a significant shortage
of funds and competing priorities.
The current project will revisit Phase
4 and accomplish as much of the facade restoration as possible.
Restoring the 48 storefronts is its first priority. Second
is restoring exterior masonry, terra cotta, steel sash windows,
and metal spandrel panels. Third is restoring the central
dome, which is in remarkably good condition. Until additional
funds are raised, restoring the central recess of the Theater's
facade to its original condition will be deferred.
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