United Artists Theatre Photo's

United Artists Theatre, a set on Flickr.

Broadway Theater Sells

photo by Gary Leonard

Broadway Theater Sells

Posted: Friday, October 14, 2011 1:39 pm | Updated: 1:37 pm, Fri Oct 14, 2011. 
Downtown News 

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - A former Broadway movie palace has changed hands. This month, the 1,600-seat United Artists Theater, at 933 S. Broadway, was sold for $11 million, said Pat Lile, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, who represented the seller in the deal.
Lile would not identify the buyer or the future plans for the theater, but blogger Brigham Yen, who first reported the sale, named Norwalk, Connecticut-based real estate firm Greenfield Partners as the purchaser. The Broadway landmark had long been owned by the University Cathedral, a congregation made famous by its late founding pastor, Dr. Gene Scott. The church has maintained the building, which was built in 1927 by United Artists founders D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Activating the theaters on Broadway has been a key goal of 14th District Councilman José Huizar's Bringing Back Broadway initiative. Jessica Wethington McLean, executive director of Bringing Back Broadway, said she was not at liberty to discuss details of the sale, but said the office is working with the new owners.
©Los Angeles Downtown News.

Historic United Artists building sells for $11 million

The historic United Artists building at 927 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. (Barbara Davidson, Los Angeles Times / October 15, 2011)

By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

October 17, 2011

A storied Los Angeles theater and office complex built by silent film stars that was later owned by one of the city's most popular televangelists has been purchased by East Coast investors.

The historic United Artists building at Broadway and 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles was sold by Wescott Christian Center Inc. to Greenfield Partners for $11 million.

Greenfield, a prominent hotel investor, hasn't revealed its plans for the property that once sported neon signs proclaiming "Jesus saves." Representatives of the South Norwalk, Conn., company did not respond to requests for comment.

Silent film stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin were among the founders of United Artists, a movie production company. Pickford, known as America's sweetheart, posed at the controls of a steam shovel in early 1927 to call attention to the groundbreaking for the United Artists building, a 13-story movie palace and office complex at 927 S. Broadway.

Construction was rushed, with three shifts of workers building around the clock to finish the Spanish Gothic-style building in time for the premiere of Pickford's film "My Best Girl" just after Christmas. Searchlights were expected to attract a crowd of 100,000 people, who would hear the ceremony through loudspeakers set up on surrounding blocks as far away as 7th Street, The Times reported. The National Guard was called out in advance to maintain order.

The structure was bought in 1986 by Glendale-based Westcott Christian Center. One of its founders was Gene Scott, a flamboyant preacher whose broadcasts were heard nationally. He died in 2005.

Downtown Los Angeles has enjoyed a renaissance in the last decade, and some improvements such as condominiums, bars and restaurants have come to the blocks around Broadway and Olympic Boulevard near the United Artists building.

"That area is already starting to form a bona fide neighborhood," said downtown advocate and blogger Brigham Yen. "Broadway is the most architecturally significant street in downtown L.A., if not all of Los Angeles County."

roger.vincent@latimes.com

Downtown's United Artists Theatre Sells, Hotel Rumors Persist

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, by Neal Broverman

Images via You-Are-Here, Jodi Summers, thenewmoon42 Here's at least a partial explanation for what happened to Downtown's famous Jesus Saves signs, which were mysteriously removed last month. In what sounds like a pretty sweet deal, a Connecticut-based real estate investment company has paid $11 million for the United Artists Theatre on South Broadway, reports Brigham Yen (it went on the market for $15 million back in '09). The theater was built in 1927 and, like many on Broadway, is currently used as a church--it put up the Jesus Saves signs back in 1989. The buyer, Greenfield Partners, has lots of history developing hotels and Yen, who once worked for the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, says he hears rumors that the trendy Ace hotel chain (Seattle, Portland, Palm Springs, New York) may be interested in the UA building. A few weeks ago, Ace owner Alex Calderwood denied that the historic theater was on their radar, but in February 2010 he did say that Ace was circling LA.
· UA Theater Purchased by Hotel Developer [Brigham Yen]
· One of Downtown's Jesus Saves Signs Removed [Curbed LA]

United Artists Theater Purchased by Hotel Developer in Downtown LA

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Brigham Yen| 4 Comments

Rumors in Downtown LA are pointing to ACE Hotel as the future of the United Artists Theater

The United Artists Theater has been purchased by Greenfield Partners, a national hotel developer and real estate investment company based in Norwalk, CT. The historic theater built in 1927–one of twelve beautiful theaters on Broadway in Downtown LA–was purchased for $11 million from the Wescott Christian Center with future development plans not completely clear at this time.

Nevertheless, based on Greenfield Partner’s strong experience in developing hotels with CEO, Gene Gorab, as one of the founding partners of Starwood Capital Group, the fate of the United Artists Theater may be a bright one repurposed for lodging and possibly more. It is likely that a development partnership will form between Greenfield Partners and someone else to take on this project, which would be an incredible boon to Broadway. And rumor has it (from several anonymous sources) that Seattle-based ACE Hotel may be tapped for a special collaboration. The owner of ACE Hotel, Alex Calderwood, denies involvement with the United Artists Theater in an email to me several weeks ago, but the rumor persists, so time will tell.

The possibility of activating the United Artists Theater with an upscale boutique hotel (whether it’s an ACE or any other well respected brand) is an exciting prospect as that would fuel tremendous momentum into the Broadway revitalization plan. A stone’s throw from the United Artists Theater is a bona fide neighborhood forming with several residential buildings (Eastern Columbia, Blackstone, Chapman, etc.) filled with full-time residents and also new businesses like Pattern Bar and the soon-to-open Umamicatessen are really putting southern Broadway on the map. Having an exciting new hotel will surely create a strong synergy that will hopefully reverberate north along Broadway.

The United Artists Theater located just south of 9th Street on Broadway was recently purchased by Greenfield Partners, a real estate investment company that has strong experience in developing hotels

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Broadway's United Artists sold, may become hotel

Kevin Roderick • October 12 2011 1:56 AM

The United Artists Theater at the south end of Downtown's Broadway movie palace district has been sold to Greenfield Partners, a national hotel developer and real estate investment company based in Norwalk, CT, according to Downtown champion Brigham Yen. He speculates from the owner's past that there are plans to renovate the building into a boutique hotel, and he's heard rumors that an Ace Hotel could be on the way. Ace's Seattle-based owner denies it. The UA, designed by the Walker & Eisen firm and built in 1927, with lobby frescoes by Anthony Heinsbergen, was opened as the flagship movie house for United Artists films, under the guidance of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin. This is the theater and 13-story office building that bore the Jesus Saves neon signs for a long time and was the home of TV pastor Gene Scott. Wikipedia notes it was the tallest privately owned structure in Los Angeles until 1956. The UA is City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument number 523.

"Jesus Saves" Moves to Glendale

By Alexis Shaw

|  Wednesday, Sep 14, 2011  |  Updated 5:51 PM PDT

Flickr/bradley_newman

The neon sign towers over the former United Artists theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Rest assured, fans of the glowing red "Jesus Saves" signs that until recently graced downtown’s skyline.

The neon signs, a familiar presence in the downtown Los Angeles area for decades, will continue to glow-- in Glendale.

The signs, which soared above the former United Artists Theater, were removed this past Saturday evening.  

The billboards were originally installed atop the Church of the Open Door at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles’s campus at 6^th Street and Hope, and remained until 1985, when the building was demolished.

It is unclear what happened to the signs between 1985 and 1989.

In 1989, Dr. Gene Scott bought them from a junkyard and  moved them to the former United Artists Theatre building, which he transformed into the Los Angeles University Cathedral.

The signs remained above the former theater until Saturday.

Broadway-gaudy in style, reassuring in message, the signs served as a beacon to congregants across the deacdes.

One member of the Church of the Open Door remembered the signs fondly.

"It is sad to see them go," Yvonne Crespo Black commented on the NBC LA Facebook page. "Too bad we can't have them for our new building in Glendora."

Church of the Open Door's Executive Administrator, Judy Cocoris, also expressed similar sentiments.

"I would like to see them [the signs] go to Biola or the Church of the Open Door, but it doesn't really seem like that's possible."

The Los Angeles University Church has moved and set up camp full-time in Glendale at the Faith Center Church, now led by Scott's widow, Pastor Melissa Scott.

The signs are moving with them, reports LA Times’ Larry Harnisch.

According to Curbed LA, the former United Artists theatre has been for sale since 2009, with an asking price of reportedly $15 million, and still has not sold.

One of Downtown's Jesus Saves Signs Taken Away in Dead of Night

Large photo via blogdowntown; inset via Marc Evans
Blogdowntown is reporting that one of Broadway's neon Jesus Saves signs had been taken down and was getting packed onto a truck at 9:30 pm on Saturday night, which is kind of a weird time to be doing work like that. The first of the Jesus Saves signs originally went up on the Bible Institute of Los Angeles at Sixth and Hope in 1935, but they were both moved to the old United Artists Theatre on Broadway in 1989, when the building was taken over by the University Cathedral. The blog says that on Saturday "a crew from Chief Sign Company was busy strapping one of the two signs onto a truck for transport as glass tubes lay shattered around the Hill Street parking lot. Those working would not give any information about where the historic neon might be headed." The UA building went up for sale in 2009 asking $15 million, but it still hasn't sold--although maybe this is a sign it's close?
· "Jesus Saves" Neon No More at United Artists? [blogdowntown]
· Downtown's "Jesus Saves" Building for Sale [Curbed LA]

Interesting photos of the Historic United Artists theatre of Downtown Los Angeles inside and out

drag your cursor across the photo in the middle to see the different photos....

united artists Theater 929 South Broadway Los Angeles

"Jesus Saves" Neon No More at United Artists?

By Eric Richardson
Published: Saturday, September 10, 2011, at 09:58PM

A crew from Chief Sign Company removes one of the neon "Jesus Saves" signs from atop Broadway's United Artists Theatre.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The twin pair of neon "Jesus Saves" that have been a familiar part of the skyline since 1935 may have shed their last light over Downtown.
As of 9:30pm on Saturday, a crew from Chief Sign Company was busy strapping one of the two signs onto a truck for transport as glass tubes lay shattered around the Hill Street parking lot. Those working would not give any information about where the historic neon might be headed.
As blogdowntown documented last year, the first sign went up on February 17, 1935, atop the north dormitory of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles' campus at 6th and Hope. The second was added later atop the south dormitory.
The signs were placed atop the former United Artists theatre building in 1989 by Dr. Gene Scott.
The 1927 theatre, owned by Scott's University Cathedral, has been on the market since 2009. The church has been run by Scott's widow since his 2005 passing.

The Journey of the "Jesus Saves" Neon

By Eric Richardson  
Blogdowntown.com
Published: Thursday, September 16, 2010, at 02:47PM

Eric Richardson [Flickr] This pair of "Jesus Saves" neon signs have stood atop the United Artists theatre since 1989, but the first went up Downtown in 1935.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — They’re a familiar fixture in the Downtown skyline, but many who have seen the pair of neon “Jesus Saves” signs have little idea just why exactly they shine out over South Park every night.
Today the signs sit atop the United Artists Theatre, which since 1989 has served as home of the University Cathedral.
That spot wasn’t where the signs first became famous, however.
The first sign was dedicated on February 17, 1935 by Rev. Louis T. Talbot and the congregation of the Church of the Open Door, which met on the campus of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles at 6th and Hope. It stood atop the school’s north dormitory, which had been converted to hotel use at the time.
A second sign was later added to the school’s matching south dormitory. There they stood for a half century.
In 1959 the school moved its operations to 50 acres in La Mirada, where today it is better known as simply BIOLA.
The church stayed, though, even as attendance started to drop. Where the congregation once averaged over 3,000 in the mid-1950s, only 600 to 800 were attending when the church decided to look at relocation in 1983. It inked a deal to purchase land in Glendora, and in January of 1984 signed a contract to sell the church facility to a developer who planned to raze it and build an office tower for $14 million.
It was when that deal fell through that things began to get interesting.
In January of 1986, television preacher Gene Scott purchased the church building for $23 million after the original developer defaulted. “Over my dead body will a wrecking ball now ever hit the front of that church or tear down those signs,” Scott told the L.A. Times, referring to the iconic “Jesus Saves” signs.
So well-known were the signs that the paper often referred to the structure simply as the `Jesus Saves’ Church in headlines.
Scott was welcomed by Church of the Open Door when he showed up to purchase their building, but later non-payment and legal wranglings left the two parties less than friendly.
The earthquake-damaged Hope Street building was finally torn down in 1988. Scott would lease the theater the following year, telling his congregation on the Sunday of the purchase that he had plans for the top of the building that could be “seen from the Harbor and Santa Monica freeways.”
According to an account given during an episode of Huell Howser’s “Downtown” series, Scott ended up purchasing the signs from a scrapyard after the church refused to sell them to him.
While the preacher passed away in 2005 and the theater building is up for sale, his signs are still visible from just as far away.

The Historic Theatre Dream on Broadway

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, August 23, 2010, at 09:24AM

Theatre Foundation (LAHTF) have a dream for Broadway’s old movie palaces. Right now the group is trying to find a buyer to purchase the Spanish gothic-styled United Artists Theatre and lease it to the nonprofit. We asked Wright about the challenge for the August 12th issue of blogdowntown Weekly.
The UA has been on the open market for eight months now. Why hasn’t it sold?
In the best of real estate markets, a 12-story office building and 1600-seat movie palace combo is a highly specialized property. Pastor Scott places a high priority on finding a buyer who will respect the historical integrity and take care of the building and theatre and make a positive contribution to the revitalization of Broadway. Some adjustments from the original pricing have been made recently to better reflect the current Downtown market.
What’s the upside for a buyer to come in and lease to you? Could they still turn a profit?
There are many owner/developers with strong track records in profitably restoring and rehabbing historic office buildings. On the other hand, the list of accomplished, successful private owner/operators of for-profit historic theatres is very short. If a benefactor to purchase the entire United Artists parcel for the LAHTF (and/or another non-profit operator) does not materialize, we’d be very interested in working out a deal with a partner to buy the property and set up a lease-purchase deal for the theatre. The developer could potentially make money on the office building piece and recoup some of the purchase price by splitting the theatre from the parcel.
So, yes, it is feasible that a private investor could buy the building, lease or sell the theatre to the LAHTF, and make a profit.
How would a revived United Artists compete with a theater like the Orpheum? Are enough shows interested in coming to Broadway to keep multiple screens and stages busy?
A revived United Artists Theatre would serve more to complement the Orpheum than to compete with it.
The Orpheum has about 400 more seats than the UA, which will always be a solid advantage to a for-profit promoter. The Orpheum operates strictly as a rental house - it does not produce and present shows. It rents the theatre to promoters, producers and film locations, who bear the expense of producing/promoting the event and they collect the profits or suffer the losses from the event presented.
This model works for the Orpheum, but means that often the theatre is not booked for days/weeks at a time.
The goal of non-profit operation of the UA (and other Broadway theatres) would be to keep the theatre overhead very low and to activate the theatre by keeping it lit and busy as much as possible. A combination of rental users, shows we produce (i.e. film series, premieres and special events), and shows the LAHTF would present or co-present with promoters, sponsors and underwriters. This fare could include a popular priced Broadway subscription series, dance - fine arts series, major speakers and all manner of music and concerts. Profitable show would subsidize shows that lose money.
The key to keeping the UA overhead low is to raise money from public and private sources to fund the purchase, restoration and rehabilitation, so the theatre is brought up to modern production requirements and is bought and paid for. There’s a huge body of experience around the country that proves this concept. If freed of the debt service for purchase, restoration and re-hab, the theatre can operate on a breakeven or better basis. There are 10 more theatres to fully activate on the street.
When successful at the United Artists, the LAHTF could take on the management and operation of several other theatres on the street using this model and the economies of scale that central management and operation would afford. If all 12 theatres on the street are privately operated, who will ensure that all 12 are not dark at the same time for days or weeks?
Finally, Broadway producers and promotors will go wherever they think they can make money. Thanks to Steve Needleman and the Orpheum, it has been proved that there is money to be made on Broadway’s historic stages and screens.

link to article...

http://blogdowntown.com/2010/08/5605-the-historic-theatre-dream-on-broadway