GLENDALE : $3 Million Sought to Fund Theaters

Hoping to capitalize on the success of the newly renovated Alex Theatre, Glendale city staff members have asked the Redevelopment Agency for $3 million to fund several theaters as anchors for a cultural arts district.

The funding request would spend $2.5 million to build a 300-seat playhouse for The Colony Studio Theatre and budgets $500,000 for renovation efforts and rent assistance for a local theater company, A Noise Within.

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, will consider these requests as part of the agency’s 1994-95 budget. The budget must be finalized by June 30.

The theaters would join the 69-year-old Alex Theatre along the Brand Boulevard corridor as part of a citywide theater district--designed to attract other businesses to the area such as coffeehouses, bookstores and art galleries, said Jeanne Armstrong, redevelopment agency director.

“We’re trying to create an individual niche for Glendale--to set aside the city from other communities in the area,” she said.

Officials hope theaters would lead those who work in Glendale during the day to stay in the city for dinner and a show in the evening.

Newer theaters are expected to parrot the Alex’s success, where business has doubled at restaurants around the 1,463-seat theater on performance nights since the Alex reopened in January after a $6-million renovation effort.