Save the Granada campaign leader Pamala Meador paints a pastel picture of the theater Thursday afternoon to raise awareness of her signature-gathering campaign to save the old cinema.
The Granada Theater: it's got history, it's Morgan Hill, it's Art Moderne, it's featured in Thomas Kinkade's painting of an All-American Hometown.
It's also sitting on property the city plans to hand over to a developer to build a large mixed-use project. As such, the Granada Theater is on the list of buildings to demolish.
Morgan Hill's sentimentalists are again rallying to save the Granada. Since it closed in 2003, various community members have come forth with plans and ideas to revive it, from a Tiburon developer in 2004 to most recently three Ann Sobrato High School art teachers. None of the plans have bore fruit. Meanwhile, the community conversation has wavered between believing a downtown theater won't work - after all, it did close in the first place - to the sentiment du jour for many downtown business owners and Morgan Hill residents: having a theater, or multi-purpose entertainment venue, is key to revitalizing the downtown area.
Save the Granada campaigners, made up of about 10 core members according to leader Pamala Meador, began gathering signatures Thursday, both online at savethegranada.com and on foot at venues such as the Downtown Farmer's Market, in front of the Target at Cochrane Commons, and in downtown businesses.
"We need to just be really proactive," Meador, a Realtor and third-generation Morgan Hill resident, said. She said the Granada should be used as a multi-purpose entertainment venue, with films and also live productions, jazz concerts and the like.
The Save the Granada campaign arose last month just before the May 19 special election. The campaign drew ire from the city and Measure A backers for tying the city measure, which will allow 500 additional residences downtown, unfettered by the city's complicated growth control competition, with the loss of the Granada. In reality, the two had nothing to do with each other. Whether Measure A passed or not, the city plans to demolish the building. The measure passed with almost 60 percent of the votes.
The Granada Theater opened at its current location in 1952 and closed in 2003. The city bought it and the adjacent Downtown Mall in 2007 for $8.6 million and plans to flip the property to a developer to build a large, mixed-use project, with retail on the ground floor and offices and condominiums on the second and third floors.
Mayor Steve Tate said he didn't feel there was a need for a 500- to 650-seat venue like the Granada, given that the downtown is already home to the amphitheater, which easily seats 3,000, and the Community Playhouse, which seats 150.
"It would be used for two, three events a year. There's a huge, huge cost to refurbishing it," Tate said, adding that he hasn't heard from any developer or operator who has said they could upgrade the existing facility and make a lot of money.
Conversely, CineLux owner Paul Gunsky is working on an exclusive operating agreement with the city to operate a four-plex cinema proposed on the corner of Second Street and Monterey Road, as part of a small mixed-use project there that would have retail on the ground floor and offices and a theater on the second and third floors. According to City Manager Ed Tewes, Gunsky is going along with plans to operate the Granada in the interim as this new project is pursued.
Tate said he appreciates the passionate people behind saving the Granada but that they don't represent a groundswell of support.
"I do take them seriously. Their heart is definitely in the right place, I take them seriously in that standpoint," Tate said. "But it would only influence me if they bring a developer forward who says, 'I can move forward with the current Granada.'"
In 2008, the city took a cursory look at the Granada and decided it "lacked integrity" thanks to renovations over the years, and passed it up when designating historical resources downtown. The facade and sign, however, are now designated historical and will be preserved.
Downtown developer and land owner Gary Walton wants to see the whole Granada preserved and said it doesn't matter if the building is deemed historical or not.
"It's a venue downtown, and it's needed to bring more people downtown," Walton said.
Keeping it would "further the story" of Morgan Hill, he said.
"There are people who had their first date and first kiss there. There's memories there. Whether it's historical or not, it's part of the community," he said.
But Walton's not just sentimental. He said preserving the theater makes economic and environmental sense.
"It's a venue. It's existing. Fixing that is going to be a lot less expensive than tearing it down. It's not going to cost anywhere near what it's going to cost to tear it down and build something new there. Even as far as affordability, it's a lot cheaper to lease that facility out. You can't build new and rent cheap.
"To waste something, all that time and energy and material, it's not the 'greenest' thing you can do ... There was a time, even in Morgan Hill, where people didn't tear down buildings, they renovated them, and they even picked them up and moved them around," Walton said, noting that the city had plans to demolish the old Morgan Hill School until the community came forward with desires to preserve it. Eventually, the city won the Governor's Award for Innovation after moving the school to its current site, 410 Llagas Road.
Meador and Walton shared their views with the Morgan Hill City Council June 3, when the council reviewed Henry Architects' conceptual design for the Second and Monterey project.
Tate said it was good to hear from someone who knows about building, but pointed out that Walton didn't say he personally could make it work.
Natalie Everett
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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