Guadalupe recently released the Royal Theater renovation project’s construction bid and request for proposal for its operator while facing a $3 million funding shortfall.
“It’s a key piece of the chain where we need to make sure this does happen,” Guadalupe Mayor Ariston Julian told the Sun. “We’re gathering around what the community needs and individuals locally; we’re looking forward to it.”
The Guadalupe Royal Theater revitalization project proposes to renovate the historic building with a new state-of-the-art movie theater, an amphitheater, and a performing arts center that could host live stage performances, musical events, and educational and cultural programs, and provide a meeting space for local organizations.
The construction bid would be for both new construction and historic renovation, and the request for proposal seeks an operator to manage and use the city-owned building.
“The main purpose of it was to generate jobs, impact businesses and restaurants in the area. … Along the Pasadera, there’s commercial buildings going up, and we’re working aggressively to get people to open up stores in the area,” Julian said. “The Royal Theater is the nucleus of those things that hope to happen in ways of improving jobs and economics.”
After discussing the renovation for a decade, the city received $10.5 million in state and federal grant funding to cover construction, but prices jumped due to rising costs and left the city $3 million short. In June, the Guadalupe City Council proposed a bond measure to fill the gap, but it failed before it could make the general election ballot with a 3-2 vote in its second reading.
“One of the disappointments was that our council didn’t want to put it to vote come November,” Julian said. “I think it would have been an uphill battle to have 66 percent of the vote in favor of the bond, but at least it would have given individuals in support of it time to speak on the matter.”
Applicants have until Sept. 20 to complete the construction bid or request for proposal for the operator. Guadalupe needs to start construction by March 2025 in order to meet the U.S. Economic Development Agency’s deadline or risk losing its $4.8 million federal grant.
“The feds want us to have the money in hand so we expect to have that. Given some of the bid documents, we are hoping to have alternative prices to reduce some of the big-ticket items to come under the contract amount we have,” Julian said. “For instance, we have a lot of equipment that’s high tech, … we may be able to come up with alternatives that don’t impact the building.”
The city is maintaining its efforts to identify other revenue sources if the bids come in too high, Project Manager Thomas Brandeberry said.
“We would still like to get some additional funds. You can start construction and get most of it done and leave some things for later if you don’t have enough funds,” Brandeberry said. “We still are looking at funds through foundations, and the city is going to start a capital campaign.”
The capital campaign is still in its infancy, and the city and project leaders need to develop ideas they want to push out to the community, he said.
“We’re always excited to get this done, but we’re hoping to get an operator to submit a proposal and the bid comes in at the right price,” Brandeberry said. “You’re always a little bit apprehensive to get what you want, but yes I’m excited to be in at this stage.”