RIVERSIDE – A project design for the long-stalled refurbishment of the historic Fox Theater was approved Tuesday by the Riverside City Council, acting in its capacity as the Redevelopment Agency.

“It's a wonderful treasure that will unfold itself,” said Councilman Dom Betro. “We are trying to create a modern performing arts center but maintain its historic heritage.”

The unanimous vote followed a discussion with project architect Richard McCann, who has restored about 30 historic theaters, including the Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles and the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle.

McCann and his staff displayed photos and concrete examples of their pre-design work, in which they painstakingly uncovered decorative tiles under stucco, stenciled patterns under layers of paint on kiosk beams and yet more patterns hidden away in closets or behind stage additions.

It's the first time in decades that much of original interior artwork of the theater, which was built in 1929 in a Mission Revival design, has been exposed.

Some observers sitting in the audience in the Council Chamber gasped with each revelation.

“This must be a labor of love for you,” Councilwoman Nancy Hart told McCann before she voted to approve the design plans.

Mayor Ron Loveridge pushed for a timetable from City Manager Bradley J. Hudson, who said the project could begin as early as this fall with completion by about April 2008.

The 1,600-seat venue is envisioned as Riverside's premier performing arts center, which would host Broadway-style shows, concert performances and ballets, according to the city's project manager, Robert Wise.

“The theater will be rehabilitated to its original design but will be enlarged in some areas and have other modifications,” he said.

The city's downtown area has struggled to develop an historic area with the restored Mission Inn as its centerpiece, despite the city's investment of more than $122 million in the redevelopment project.

The missing element has been the Fox Theater, which in its heyday was the site of a sneak preview screening of the 1939 Civil War epic “Gone with the Wind.”

By the 1980s, the theater had fallen into disrepair and was showing only Spanish-language films.

The building went through a succession of owners, who promised to return it to its original condition and show first-run movies.

City officials saw a glimmer of hope when Joe Zivnak purchased the theater in 2001 for $1.4 million with an eye toward restoration that never occurred.

The city began eminent domain proceedings to take possession in 2004. Last December, the city settled with Zivnak, purchasing the theater for $2.9 million.

Plans call for keeping the exterior of the theater virtually intact but enlarge the stage area and upgrade the upstairs offices, according to a city report.

“The auditorium will pretty much remain as it is, and the ceiling will remain original with a little touch-up,” Wise said. “But the lobby has been repainted three or four times over. We have had paint experts come and look at the original colors and matched them.”

Theater offices and retail shops that line the theater at Market Street and Mission Inn Avenue would also be restored, Wise said.

The theater is expected to complement the Fox Plaza, a nearby proposed project of 900 condominiums, 200 lofts, a hotel and 800,000 square feet of commercial space.

San Diego News Service