New Owner for Pomona Fox Theater

posted by Joe Vogel on February 13, 2007 at 5:00 am

POMONA, CA — A 1931 Clifford Balch-designed art deco palace, the Pomona Fox Theater, has been sold by the City of Pomona to a partnership of local developers who have renovated other buildings in the city’s old downtown. The city council voted unanimously to sell the theatre to Gerald Investments Incorporated for $1.6 million.

Company representative Jerry Tessier says that work on the theater will begin within three months, and will take about nine months to complete. He hopes to have the theater opened by the end of January, 2008, so it can host the Smogdance Film Festival, a local event which left Pomona for nearby Claremont last year.

Slated work on the building includes seismic retrofitting, roofing, and upgrades of the electrical and plumbing systems. To help cover renovation costs, the partnership will apply for Federal tax benefits available for the building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The nonprofit Pomona Fox Corporation, founded in 2002 by citizen activists determined to see the landmark theater preserved, expects to continue its involvement with the operation under the new ownership, said trustee John Clifford.

To read more on this story, go to the Inland Daily Bulletin.

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