After numerous attempts in recent years to reopen the shuttered Granada Theater and preserve it as a local center for cinema and the arts, a local nonprofit might have finally accomplished that dream.
The Morgan Hill Granada Preservation Society recently incorporated itself as a 501(c)(3) organization, and about two weeks ago gained a one-year lease on the theater which sits in the heart of downtown Morgan Hill, at 17440 Monterey Road, according to MHGPS Chair John Liegl.
Now all the society needs is money – about $30,000, to be exact, in order to reopen the facility in time for their target date of early December, Liegl said. That amount should be enough to upgrade the theater’s restrooms to meet ADA requirements, and make other improvements.
The society’s long-term plan is to purchase the Granada, for which they need about $1.6 million, Liegl said.
The MHGPS’ initial plan – until they can buy the theater – is to keep the theater split into two auditoriums as it is configured now. One side would be devoted to movie screenings (ideally classic, foreign and children’s films), and on the other side the MHGPS plans to build a small stage for live entertainment, including music, comedy and maybe even one-act plays, Liegl said. That side of the theater would also retain a movie screen.
“When we get enough money, we’re going to put in a movable partition so we can have bigger live performances,” Liegl said.
Those events would offer more of a “club atmosphere” with meals served from GVA Cafe next door and dining booths to be installed in front of the stage, Liegl said.
Although the theater has been closed for permanent business since about 2003. The Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency purchased the building in 2008, and has attempted numerous times to enlist a private developer to improve the theater or replace it with a mixed-use residential and commercial project.
Since the RDA closed in 2012, the property has sat in limbo in terms of ownership, and the theater is now controlled by the RDA Oversight Board, with whom the MHGPS signed a lease recently. The City and other taxing agencies in the former RDA area in the process of trying to place the theater and nearby downtown properties (also formerly owned by the RDA) on the market for redevelopment, a transfer that requires state approval.
“One of the problems is the City doesn’t know what to do with the Granada Theater. Our hope is to raise enough money to get it off their hands,” Liegl said.
Last year, the Oversight Board and Economic Development Corporation approved a reopening of the theater on a part-time, temporary basis for special events. The Granada was thus the site of the 2012 Poppy Jasper Film Festival, which will call the theater its home for the festival’s 10th anniversary this weekend, Nov. 8 to Nov. 10.
MHGPS board members and other proponents of reopening the Granada have long said that doing so would reintroduce an important “hub” for the downtown, attracting visitors who would ostensibly patronize neighboring restaurants or shops before or after taking in a movie or performance.
“When the Granada closed, the downtown closed,” Liegl said.
Maurizio Cutrignelli, owner of two restaurants in downtown Morgan Hill and the former owner of several others, agreed the downtown was more alive when the Granada was open.
“It was basically the anchor for downtown,” Cutrignelli said. “I think it will be good for business (to reopen the theater). It’s definitely nothing better than good to bring more traffic downtown.”
The MHGPS website is set up to take donations for the nonprofit society, and will list show and performance schedules when they are decided. The website is www.morganhillgranada.com.
