Historic Warner Grand Theater Rehabilitation
Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles
The Warner Grand is a historic 1,500 seat theater located in Downtown San Pedro, near the Port of Los Angeles. Closed for many years, The City of Los Angeles re-opened the theater in the late 1990s as a publicly-owned multi-use venue for performing arts, concerts, and film festivals. Operations have not achieved self-sufficiency, and donations raised by the community’s Grand Vision Foundation have fallen short of funds needed for a complete renovation, hampering full use of the facility.
BAE was retained by CRA/LA to prepare a comprehensive feasibility study, working with the Grand Vision Foundation, that outlines how the Warner Grand could be renovated into a privately operated multiple use venue. BAE’s feasibility study included a review of the local and regional market demand for performing arts facilities, to identify functional improvements that would be needed as well as to determine models for financing improvements and operations, along with best practices for operations. Working with an architect retained by CRA/LA, BAE identified a set of improvements that would enhance the marketability of the Warner Grand, including renovated dressing rooms and a reconfiguration of the main theater and lobby spaces, in addition to code and other upgrades. BAE prepared a series of budgets to model current operations, enhanced management by a private operator, and future operation after full renovation of the facility. This analysis was used to formulate an implementation strategy and operations plan for how a new private operator could renovate the Warner Grand in phases while preserving it as a multiple use venue.