Crest Theatre's Owners, Operators At Odds Over Lease, Putting Future In Jeopardy
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A battle over Sacramento's historic Crest Theatre has people asking if the final curtain is coming down soon.
The theater's owners and operators are at odds over the theater's lease and whether there's money available to upgrade the old building.
The operators of the staple on K Street for decades are stepping down after 28 years.
General Manager Sid Garcia-Heberger says it all came down to who could pay for some major repairs, including air conditioning and plumbing.
"Without owning the building we just felt like being on the line for those capital improvements didn't seem appropriate," she said.
Building owner Robert Emerick says Sacramento city redevelopment funding covered those costs, but that money ran out years ago.
"We have an air conditioning system thats 65 years old; we've got plumbing thats 100 years old, and if you have 1,000 people coming in for a concert and the air conditioner doesn't start up that day you're gonna have 1,000 people that are not going to come back," he said.
So now Garcia-Heberger is moving on, stopping booking events as of Oct 31. Anything beyond that will be in the owners' hands.
Emerick expects to create a new dynamic, but says everything that makes the Crest what it is will stay. The Crest's owners say they've already booked several events throughout the year and plan a new restaurant inside the building to help create more revenue at the theater.
"I think our brightest future is still ahead of us..I think we have some very exciting things coming," he said.
