MorganHillTimes.com | Granada boosts downtown

Granada boosts downtown

Dec 21, 2004
By

A lot depends on a guy named Mike but, if he can pull it off, the Granada Theater will light up its marquee, crank up the popcorn machine and light a fire under night-time downtown.

Mike Wilkinson, 30, is trying to pull together some investors, some city funding and, drawing upon his personal reputation as a movie-house-saver, could just save Morgan Hill's downtown movie house.

In the meantime, Wilkinson is working with Manou Mobedshahi, who has a 40-year lease on the theater, and says he wants to help bring the theater back to life.

"I would do anything to revive the Granada," Mobedshahi said recently.

He had approached Palo Alto's David Packard, who revived the successful Stanford Theater that plays movie classics. Mobedshahi thought a classic format would play well in Morgan Hill.

"But they didn't even call me back," he said.

Enter Wilkinson, a young man from Tiberon who bought an old theater in Colusa - off Highway 99, near Chico - and brought it back to life. He then bought a bowling alley and performed the same miracle in the small, isolated town.

Wilkinson said recently that he entered the city's competition for a share of $2-$3 million remaining Redevelopment Agency funds dedicated to downtown, for part of the undertaking.

"I asked (the city) for a combination low-interest loan and possibly some grants for the historical parts," Wilkinson said. "The final estimates are not in yet but I'm looking at a combination between a low-interest loan and private funding for the $800,000-$850,000 project."

Wilkinson is asking for a large loan/small grant mix totaling $1,095,000 to refurbish and restructure the theater. The proposal includes a $700,000 loan at 3 percent payable in 15 years with interest payments starting three months after the theater opens; a $310,500 grant largely to preserve the building's historic aspects and a $45,000 façade grant. The city has given façade grants to many businesses to spruce up their store fronts in hopes of improving business and the general ambiance.

"It would be difficult for me to take over the full financial burden of the Granada," Wilkinson said recently.

Brad Jones, owner of BookSmart, Thinker Toys and two other downtown businesses, told the City Council at a recent meeting of independent research done by a Morgan Hill Downtown Association member.

"One of our members went to Colusa and was very impressed with what Mike did with the theater and bowling alley," Jones said. "His staff worked well and he is well-respected in the community."

The theater, built in 1952, will need structural changes, to handle three proposed screens, plus new paint, seating, carpeting and rest rooms, to say nothing of sound and projection systems.

Wilkinson isn't expecting the city to pay for everything but he'd particularly like a deferred three-year loan on funds covering the historical aspects, uncovered recently and found on the original plans that Granada owners Ed and Irene Endersons have loaned him.

The old theater had a brief spurt of activity this summer and fall, with a classic movie benefits. The showings helped publicize and fund the successful Poppy Jasper Film Festival's inaugural event the weekend of Nov. 12-14.

The Granada has been closed for more than a year and other downtown businesses that depended on a steady influx of movie goers have taken a hit.

While the theater has been dark the Coffee Roasting Club became the Second Street Coffee Express and has now turned into Caffee, Kaffee, Vin, with each new owner hoping to dispense enough lattes and mochas to keep going.

Newest owners, Cinda Meister and Brad Jones, who also own BookSmart, Thinker Toys and the Love Bug, are hoping for the best in the face of "no reason to come downtown after dark," which they hear from daytime customers.

"The Granada reopening would really help us all," Jones said.