Theatre to Close

[conarb]

MORAGA -- The New Rheem Theatre will go dark June 30 following a rent increase its operators say they can't afford.

Zemrak said he learned Saturday about the 60 percent hike, an increase from $5,000 to $8,000 per month. Notice of the rent increase was shown on the Rheem's iconic art deco marquee over the weekend, alongside a brief announcement that the theater is being forced to close soon.

Despite what he characterized as an amicable relationship with property owner Mahesh Puri, Zemrak said he was surprised by the steep increase.

However, he acknowledged Puri has helped keep the Rheem afloat for nearly five years.

"Four and half years ago, (the owner) lowered our rent and never raised it, which helped the theater stay open and operate," Zemrak said. "Mr. Puri basically subsidized the rent for over 4 1/2 years."

According to attorney David Bowie, who is representing Puri, the property owner can no longer continue to help fund the theater.

In addition to $30,000 worth of improvements to the Rheem stemming from an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit, other factors are driving the rent increase, including maintenance, property taxes and insurance.

Puri, Bowie said, is "upside-down" on the property, and theater operators don't have enough business to sustain the rent.

Saying the theater operates on a very small margin, Zemrak acknowledged that revenues outweigh costs some months, but costs exceed revenue during others. Independent and community theaters like the Rheem are closing across the country.¹

This building is the only landmark in a suburban town, if the city did buy it for cultural reasons then the taxpayers would have to pay for all losses and all insurance and receive no property taxes and that $30,000 would probably skyrocket with structural and fire sprinkler requirements. They say $30,000 for ADA but when they go to get the permit to do the work in a 1957 building I think they will have a rude awakening. BTW, this theater sits a few hundred feet from that hamburger joint where I reported going to lunch several years ago only to find the sprinklers had gone off during the night due to an overheated air handler on the roof drowning two restaurants causing millions in damage.

¹ http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28240900/moragas-new-rheem-theatre-close

 

[Msradell]

Considering it appears that the $30,000 worth of modifications that were required to meet ADA were already done, I don't believe that the issue here. That's what a reasonable cost for a major building like this to meet the requirements. Sprinkler requirements you brought up have nothing to do with accessibility and obviously are much more expensive than what has already been spent. If you are inferring that the owner would be forced into doing the sprinklers if you made the ADA improvements that's not the case since the improvements are already done. This is one time you can't blame a business closing on the ADA!!

 

[conarb]

Considering it appears that the $30,000 worth of modifications that were required to meet ADA were already done, I don't believe that the issue here. That's what a reasonable cost for a major building like this to meet the requirements. Sprinkler requirements you brought up have nothing to do with accessibility and obviously are much more expensive than what has already been spent. If you are inferring that the owner would be forced into doing the sprinklers if you made the ADA improvements that's not the case since the improvements are already done. This is one time you can't blame a business closing on the ADA!!

I've done ADA work in Moraga (that's where the Aaron Green church is located that I've mentioned), have also gone to "art films" in the Rheem Theater, no way that $30,000 would bring that theater into ADA compliance, I'll try asking around but suspect that the $30,000 was to settle a lawsuit, another possibility is that the $30,000 was a first phase, in that jurisdiction if you permit a remodel and can't reasonably bring the entire building into compliance you can present a plan detailed by an architect to bring the entire building within compliance in "a reasonable period of time". That was 10 years ago and I don't know if the County has the same policy.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

This is one time you can't blame a business closing on the ADA!!

Out of a hundred .

That's if your assertion is true.

You can barely update a residential kitchen for 30 G's, And this is Moraga. People make more than minimum wage there.

Brent.

 

[conarb]

Out of a hundred .That's if your assertion is true.

You can barely update a residential kitchen for 30 G's, And this is Moraga. People make more than minimum wage there.

Brent.

This where two bathrooms cost $60,000 in the church, and the building department doubled down by charging commercial permit fees because churches are businesses. Within a few miles of that theater in Lafayette I remodel the kitchen in a home I build in the 70s and it cost $320,000, he recently wanted me to remodel his master bath but I told him to forget it, I was retiring and he'd have to replace his toilets, faucets, and shower heads throughout the home with the new water-saving devices where you have to flush three times and can't take a decent shower in the morning. he is an attorney and asked me to do it without a permit, again I told him to forget about it since it wasn't worth the risk to either of us.

Our town looks like a ghost town, I went down to my shoe maker's store on Main Street, the Bank of America, MacDonalds and many business have shut down, after the Napa earthquake the city demanded seismic reinforcement in all businesses, seismic starts the snowball rolling, go to permit that and you have to comply with ADA and fire requirements, they usually require water service upgrades, so the costs are beyond reasonable. The shoe maker stayed in business by moving lots of his stuff into storage and what he needed he moved into the center of the store so they could work all around him. The city avoided seismic upgrade requirements for years by just requiring them when permits were taken out not wanting business to shut down and lose the sales tax money, but with the Napa earthquake they basically red tagged the entire town. In the Martinez case the seismic case triggered it, in the Moraga case an ADA suit triggered the requirements.

 

[ADAguy]

The "rest" of the story comes out. Thank you for the clarifications.

 

[mark handler]

The "rest" of the story comes out. Thank you for the clarifications.

Always a back story

Accessibility is an easy out

 

[mtlogcabin]

In the Martinez case the seismic case triggered it, in the Moraga case an ADA suit triggered the requirements.

Seems like to many government triggers causing accidental deaths within the business community

California's citizens need to enact more control over their government

 

[mark handler]

California's citizens need to enact more control over their government

Right after we get control over the Federal Govenment and the "Fourth Estate" who create BS stories....

 

[mtlogcabin]

Right after we get control over the Federal Govenment and the "Fourth Estate" who create BS stories....

Why a top down approach. If the citizens of each state would reel in their state then the states could reel in the feds

http://www.conventionofstates.com/