Pro Bono Help for the Balboa . . .
The price tag on the renovation of the historic Balboa Theater on the Newport Peninsula has stretched from $1 million to $3.5 million, but two local corporations are trimming expenses by donating their services.
Costa Mesa-based Birtcher Construction Services will handle the general contracting and project management, while the Holmes and Narver Inc. architectural and engineering firm in Orange is preparing the plans.
The old movie house has been gutted and is being transformed into a performing arts theater that will also show films. The new theater, which will have 300 to 350 seats, is scheduled to reopen next fall.
The new, heftier price tag includes seismic retrofitting and the cost of the theater’s first year of operations, said Michele Roberge, executive director of the Balboa Performing Arts Theater foundation, which has raised almost $1 million for the project.
“The $1-million price tag was kind of wishful thinking,” she said.
The corporate donations have a personal tinge. Andrew L. Youngquist, president of Birtcher Construction, grew up in Newport Beach and watched his share of movies at the peninsula theater. Craig Smith, president of Holmes & Narver Inc., recently moved to the peninsula from Los Angeles.
The theater renovation “will help rejuvenate and restore the Balboa Peninsula/Balboa Island area to some of its former elegance,” Smith said.
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