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Enean Theatre For Sale
posted by
eneantheater
on
December 5, 2003 at 11:08 am
Located at 325 East 10th street in Pittsburg, California. In its present condition, the theater stands solid. It’s been gutted and floors have been leveled, a couple of windows have been opened, a big roll up door was added to one of the theater’s exterior walls, and a new roof was installed about 4 years ago. The balcony and other features are still intact.
The property sits in 3 downtown lots, about 12500 square feet in total. The building’s commercial zoning allows for many different uses; including movie theater, play house, etc. Storefronts have been converted into offices and living quarters. The asking price is $875,000. If interested contact, please contact Jaime F. Penuela at .
Comments (7)
Federal historic preservation tax incentives are available for any qualified project that the secretary of interior designates as a certified rehabilitation of a certified historic structure.
-California Office of Historic Preservation(OHP)-
www.ohp.parks.ca.gov
Be Cautious Folks. Upon my last visit to downtown Pittsburg, CA
this area was extremely blighted. Also, a giant 16 screen plex sits
just 2 miles away and 3 miles further a 16 plex was erected too.
I also recommend studying the demographics of this community.
To this very day Pittsburg has never responded well to art, foreign or upscale
motion pictures. It has always played well to the family and
action audiences throughout its history. Please investigate this
market thoroughly before embarking on such an expensive propostion.
Perhaps a lease with an option to buy would be a much safer bet.
I like to see a movie theatre that shows espanish movies and other foreign productions also movies from the 40’s .I live in Pittsburg
Ca. and me and my family would love to see a movie in our own language,there are great things happening in latin america but there is not a place in the whole San Fransisco Bay Area that shows them.Pittsburg and nearby cities are crowded with latinos,I think somebody would make a killing with that kind of theatre, I saw the place and it’s awesom, I hope somebody with money will take it over and do something to restore it and show some espanish movies
FYI – The reason there are no spanish speaking films in the marketplace is that they do not make them anymore. The reason is
that Latino’s have been a tremendous supporter of big commercial movie releases. In fact, even in Los Angeles which boasts over
4 million hispanics, the spanish language movie theaters all closed due to lack of attendance! The Latinos go to regular multiplex
theaters. How many times have you been to the Brendan 16 plex in
Pittsburg??? Hmmm ??? I am sure you and many more Latinos flock
to the house when all the big family and blockbuster films play.
I will say that I have seen some of the big stadium megaplexes
in heavily Hispanic markets … play a regular big commercial film
such as … say … LAST SAMURAI etc with SPANISH SUBTITULOS for
the enjoyment of maybe the folks who don’t speak any English.
This however, is very very rare and I’ve only seen it done with
rare success. This policy was even tried in San Jose CA where
Hispanics abound and was very unsuccessful.
Dear Howie,Cinema treasures is a non profit organization dedicated to Discover,Preserve and protect this endangered buildings, that’s why we are here, but thanks to your thoughtless comments and negative information this place may never come back. May be you should go to a web site that is specialized in cosumer protection or business advise, we are here to bring them back, not put them down. Besides i’m talking about Mexican and Latin first run movies and productions, not -LAST SAMURAI WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES-
My comments were not meant to offend anyone. I know the Northern
California Film Exhibition marketplace like the back of my hand.
I know the Enean Theater very well and some of the previous operators too.
I would love to see the house thrive successfully but when an earlier
member considered spending over $800,000.00 on this building …
I have an obligation to speak what I know is true of the existing marketplace of theatrical exhibition. I too distribute indie films
and book commercial films into motion picture theaters all across
the United States. In the past I have represented clients who
like yourself, have longed for the 1940 – 1950 release of CANTINFLAS
films etc. to play in their movie houses. The facts are that the studios do not have prints of these films anymore. Most
of these movies are on video and for sale at many local California
TARGET STORES. Its sad but true. Perhaps since you are local, you might be able to get a strong contingency of folks to raise funds
to buy or lease to purchase the Enean Theater? Most likely you will
have greater success with LIVE STAGE SHOWS catering to the Latino
or Hispanic audiences. I believe that you can find booking agents
who handle talent for these kinds of venues down in Los Angeles.
What I said in my previous comments are true. You can get prints of
Harry Potter, Last Samurai, etc. from the Hollywood studios with
Spanish Sub-Titles. Some indie companies have released some excellent arty type films which I myself have booked into various
venues such as REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO etc. These films are quality indie fare and did play well to Hispanic and Anglo audiences as they were run in many commercial megaplex venues amd art housses – throughout the United States. This kind of product would do well in a venue like the Enean but unfortunately, there’s not enough of this film-fare to keep the house running 365 days a year and be profitable unless the house is
made to be mulit-faceted. IF this can be done – then it will survive
and live out its legacy as an ornate Palace of Yesteryear! I suggest you go out and try to get a group organized locally to SAVE THE ENEAN! Good Luck as I too would hate to see the house disappear.
Not so fast guys, you have to get past the City Of Pittsburg. In order to fulfill this dream, you have present a plan for the zonnig department and building department, that means a certificate of occupancy will have to be issued for that specific function or use.
The biggest thing will be restoring the palace and, retrofiting it for this day and time. New handicapped bathrooms will be needed as well as heating & ac, sprinkle system (“importante”), parking, lighting, etc; Then you can worry about, what you are going to show. Restoration process has to be done according to SHOP guides, if you want to benefit from a 20% tax incentive break from IRS. Bringing this place to Code, could cost 2 to 3 hundred thousand dollars before you think about your projection equipment and seats .
The good part about all this, is that, you can modernize everything according to your taste ,I’m talking “DIGITAL PROJECTION” new kind of equipment that transmits digital movies through a server “LINUX tecnnology , all this for about S150,000 dollars
you could show any movie that is available on DVD, even show weather and news programs, may be make it a” Cinema Cafe internet"
sports club. I don’t know, posibilities are very broad.The Patent Law , or cost of showing DVDs or any digital production is unknown to me ,I still have to reseach this. But trust me like “IF YOU BUILT IT, THEY WILL COME” no doubt.
Other factor to consider is parking space enough for 1000 people. That means a least 400 spaces. In other words you have to buy the neighbors on each side (they are both for sale)another 1.2 million. we are talking about 3 million for the whole thing …. not bad,“it takes money to make money”.
With the 20% rebate , you can run about 1 to 2 years before making profit. something like that is worth 3 times what you invested. There is no place to go in Pittsburg, this could change the city for ever and help the restoration of the “ California Theatre” as well, another Jewell from the past. If everything else fails,it will be an “Auto Parts Warehouse” , like the City’s “MASTER REDEVELOPMENT PLAN” dictates.
As you can see, this project is biger than my credit allows, Banks are not too happy about this type of ideas. That’s the reason I’m willing to sell or even consider a partnership with some one who want’s the “Enean Theatre” to come back, after 53 years of humiliation.
Thanks. Jaime