Beverly Hills Investor Buys Berkeley’s California Theatre

Berkeley’s historic California Theatre has come under new ownership after years of the projectors collecting dust in the shuttered movie house.

An affiliate led by Beverly Hills resident and real estate investor Tien Lung Chen acquired the theater at 2115 Kittredge Street in a $5 million all-cash deal, the Mercury News reported.

It’s the latest property acquisition in the Golden State for Chen, who is linked to the ownership group for Palm Springs’ Exotic Dreams Resort. Last September, a Chen-led group bought a Pasadena property pitched as a potential development site for $11 million.

The California Theatre closed in 2021, and its fate has been in question since then.

Rhode Island-based Gilbane Development in 2022 proposed developing a housing tower on the site and transforming the ground floor into a performing arts venue. That plan called for preserving the theater’s facade and possibly maintaining some of the interior sections. Gilbane reversed course last year and pulled out of the project.

Future plans for the California Theatre are not yet clear, including whether it will meet the same fate as the United Artists Theater at 2274 Shattuck Avenue. Last year, the City Council unanimously supported a proposal from developer Panoramic Interests to demolish the theater and replace it with a 17-story, 227-unit apartment building complete with a ground-floor cafe.

That plan mirrors others across the Bay Area that call for turning historic entertainment venues into housing. In San Francisco, local developer DM Development is looking to demolish the Empire Theater in West Portal to build 64 residential units across nine floors.

The California Theatre could also end up being preserved and reopened as a movie house, similar to San Francisco’s Clay Theatre, which is being renovated in order to welcome moviegoers once again.

— Chris Malone Méndez