SAN JOSE — A San Jose housing development is poised to flatten nearly all of a long-shuttered movie palace, a disclosure that has dismayed local activists who seek to preserve historic buildings.
The residential project would replace the historic Burbank Theater at 552-560 South Bascom Ave. on a site just north of Interstate 280.
Burbank Theater at 552 South Bascom Avenue in San Jose, in an April 2023 image capture. (Google Maps)
A previous version of the proposal left open the possibility that the housing development would somehow accommodate the entire front section of the movie house, along with the familiar “Burbank Cinema” sign.
The latest version of the proposal appears to have modified the intent of the project’s developer, city planners say.
An affordable housing development consisting of 62 residential units at 552-560 South Bascom Avenue in San Jose, concept. (CORBeL Architects)
“The only part of the original building that would be retained is the theater sign,” Kora McNaughton, a San Jose city planner, said in an email she sent to this news organization, citing information provided by a representative of the project applicant.
The latest version of the housing development dismayed members of the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, a historic preservation advocacy group.
“The concept of retaining the distinctive parts of the building, the lobby,the marquee, really that whole corner at the entrance, was kind of the minimum for what we were looking for,” said Mike Sodergren, president of the preservationist group.
Instead, the development group is focused primarily on a version that features residences with the vertical theater sign attached to the front of the property at the corner of South Bascom Avenue and Basile Avenue.
The vast majority of the existing Burbank Theater would be bulldozed.
“We definitely didn’t want this,” Sodergren said.
The project would feature 62 residences consisting of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, the city plans show.
A Milpitas-based group called Tru Investments that’s linked to South Bay business executives owns the theater, Santa Clara County property records show. In 2022, Tru Investments paid $1.6 million to buy the movie theater site.
This news organization has attempted to reach principal executives with the property ownership group through phone communications. The efforts have been unsuccessful so far.
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The proposal envisions a five-story project. The housing would be developed on floors two, three, four and five. The ground floor would feature 7,400 square feet of commercial space and a residential lobby.
Some experts deem the existing theater to be an important historic resource.
“The Burbank Theater is eligible as a Santa Clara County historic landmark because it is over 50 years old, is an excellent example of Cantin & Cantin’s Streamline Moderne theater architecture, and retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic identity,” Kara Brunzell, a historic preservation consultant, wrote in a 2018 report to Santa Clara County officials.
In its latter years as a movie house, the theater shifted away from mainstream films and began showing pornographic movies.
“It continued showing adult content for decades, cementing a reputation in the surrounding neighborhood as a pornographic venue,” Brunzell stated in its report. “Occasionally, the theater’s adult content included nude or partially nude dancers.”
In 1991, a neighborhood group launched a campaign to shut the theater over concerns about on-site sexual activity. In 2000, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office forced the theater to close its doors.
Since then, entrepreneurs have crafted or launched an array of proposals to bring new endeavors to the theater. The proposals have included a revival of film showings, a mosque, and most recently a dance, drama and fitness studio.
Now, it appears that the theater building’s days could be numbered if the city approves the latest version of the housing project.
The San Jose activists are concerned that the plans to rescue the iconic sign are being floated primarily to mollify groups such as the Preservation Action Council.
“The developers want to save the sign hoping to get us and the city off their backs,” Sodergren said.
