54.3 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

Developer Breathes New Life Into North Park Theater, Adds Garage

Developer Breathes New Life Into North Park Theater, Adds Garage

BY MANDY JACKSON

Developer Bud Fischer is redeveloping the North Park Theater, originally built in 1928, and plans to reopen the 800-seat live theater next year.

Fischer is a partner in San Diego-based Trilogy Real Estate Management Inc. His company owns and operates several rental housing and retail properties around San Diego County.

When he got involved in the North Park project, Fischer expected it to last for two years. Four years later, he said construction for the $5.5 million renovation will probably begin in March. The theater, which is at University Avenue and 29th Street, will open about a year later.

“My main area of expertise has been adaptive reuse and historic renovation. A lot of developers had worked on this and it fell through,” Fischer said. “It hasn’t been in use since 1988.”

The Lyric Opera San Diego, which currently performs at the Casa del Prado Theater in Balboa Park, will manage and perform in the North Park Theater.

Part of the redevelopment project is a five-story, 390-space parking garage on the northeast corner of 29th Street and North Park Way. The $10 million garage will also have 15,659 square feet of retail space.

Restaurants may be part of the retail, but Fischer said it would more likely be small service-oriented businesses serving the neighborhood.

“It’s hard to tell, the market’s changing so rapidly,” he said.

Edward Lynch, an architect at Austin Veum Robbins Partners, said the garage will begin construction in the second half of 2004. It is under preliminary review with the city’s development services department, Lynch said.

AVRP is the San Diego-based firm working with International Parking Design Inc. of Sherman Oaks on the parking garage design. San Diego architect Richard Bundy is designing the theater renovations.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-