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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.