The Lorenzo Theater Is Almost Rebuilt. What Goes On Its New Reader Board Is a Separate Decision.
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
"The lighting of the tower and marquee is another step moving hope toward reality, allowing us to bring this grand lady into a new era where she will again shine light onto the San Lorenzo Village." The Lorenzo Theater Foundation shared that line before the October 15 ceremony at 16080 Hesperian Blvd., and the East Bay Times quoted it in its coverage the next day. The paper reported that hundreds of people gathered under the new LED neon that Thursday evening. The 700-person venue is slated for a grand reopening on January 23, 2027, according to the Alameda County Community Development Agency.
The marquee is lit, but the building is not finished. The bigger question is what the reopened Lorenzo will be, and County records show that question has a longer history than the fires.
The ceremony was held outdoors. In its October 6 press release, the County said construction was still going on inside. Phase II of the Lorenzo Theater Fire Rehabilitation and Façade Renovation Project began in September 2025. It covers interior reconstruction, restoration of the historic black-light mural, and the marquee, tower and ticket booth. The County expects Phase II to be finished in December 2026, about a month before the reopening date.
Architectural Resources Group, the project's architect, laid out the exterior work for the Eden Municipal Advisory Council in a November 2025 presentation. It split the work into two groups:
The same deck covers ceiling reconstruction and mural restoration inside the auditorium.
The digital reader board is the one modern element in the design, and it hints at what comes next. A 1947 marquee was built to have its letters changed by hand for each new film. A digital board lets the building advertise whatever is happening inside, which could be a film, a live show or something else entirely.
The Board of Supervisors' June 2025 contract letter explains why the rebuild is happening now. It awarded Plant Construction Company, L.P., a San Francisco firm, a $17,807,744 contract running through December 31, 2026. A supplemental work allowance raised the not-to-exceed total to $19,588,518.
The same letter estimated that insurance would cover about $14.2 million of the $17.8 million project, leaving the County to pay about $3.6 million. It notes that the final split depends on change orders, allowances and tariffs. The County's portion draws partly on $2.3 million in Tier One funds the Board set aside for the theater on November 22, 2022.
The insurance money exists because of the two fires in 2020. A County report on the fires says the first started June 5, 2020, from an unknown cause, and the Board declared an emergency on June 23. A second fire inside the building on October 23, 2020, damaged part of the mural and the wooden balcony. The County Fire Department's investigation attributed it to contractor activities. The emergency work that followed included debris removal, stabilization and seismic upgrades.
The fires nearly destroyed the building. They also triggered the insurance payout that is now covering most of the rebuild.
The Lorenzo has not run as a regular movie house since 1982. According to the Lorenzo Theater Foundation's history, the Parmar brothers leased it from United Artists in 1978 to show foreign films, and it closed when that five-year lease ran out. A 2025 San Leandro Times retrospective also points to lease disputes and competition from multiplexes.
Every attempt since then has run into the same question: who will run it, and as what?
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1947 | United Artists builds a 700-seat theater on Hesperian Blvd., with a façade by Alexander A. Cantin and his son Alexander Mackenzie Cantin and an interior mural by Anthony Heinsbergen |
| 1982 | The theater closes and sits vacant |
| 1986 | It receives the Art Deco Preservation Award from the Art Deco Society of California |
| 2007 | The Lorenzo Theater Foundation signs a $300,000 purchase agreement with the owner and launches a fundraising plan |
| 2010 | Alameda County's Redevelopment Agency buys the property; a feasibility study estimates reuse at $8 million to $12 million and finds every modeled option financially infeasible over ten years |
| 2019 | The County updates its feasibility work and selects Matt DeLima as preferred developer for a live-music and entertainment venue |
| 2021 | A County report says that deal cannot move to a development agreement until surplus-land procedures are met |
| 2020 to 2022 | Two fires, then roof reconstruction and structural stabilization |
| 2025 | The Phase II construction contract is awarded |
The 2010 County letter shows how early the operator question came up. The County received three operator proposals that year, two of them for performing arts. Its study still found no option that paid for itself over ten years. Instead of picking an operator, the County chose limited preservation: up to $1 million for exterior work and a $95,420 roofing contract with Fidelity Roof Company. The 2021 report described the 2019 developer selection as conditional and never reached a final agreement.
The June 2025 Board letter set out the County's plan for running the building once construction is done. While Phase II was underway, the Community Development Agency would write a Request for Proposal and send it to developers interested in partnering on a community-serving entertainment venue. The letter lists the components such a venue might include:
The same letter adds that the San Lorenzo Commercial Kitchen may be integrated into the theater or an adjacent development in the future, "to respond to the desire for this community asset."
Film is first on that list, but the list doesn't require it. The building's new features fit a venue that changes its program often: a digital board on a historic marquee, a restored black-light mural and a 700-person room. The Foundation's long-standing hopes, as the East Bay Times reported in 2007, covered visual and performing arts, weddings, parties, school performances, lectures and corporate events, with rentals as a possible source of operating revenue. That range overlaps with the County's 2025 list.
County officials frame the reopening around the commercial strip as much as the screen. "The restoration will help rejuvenate the downtown area and create continuous opportunities for community building and economic growth," Sandi Rivera, director of the Alameda County Community Development Agency, said in the County's release. Supervisor Lena Tam, who represents District 3, said the restoration "will enhance economic vitality and contribute to the revitalization of the downtown San Lorenzo commercial corridor."
"Continuous" is the key word in Rivera's statement. To keep that stretch of Hesperian busy, the building needs a program that runs on more nights than a single opening.
These are the dates the County has set for the rest of the project:
Foundation leaders were at the October ceremony, including president Kelly McHan, secretary Diane Penella and board members Randy Waage, Sandy Anderson and Dave Cowan. The Foundation's site holds the building's history going back to United Artists. The County's press release archive is where the October ceremony was first announced.
If you own a home near the Village and want to know how a working Lorenzo and a busier Hesperian corridor might figure into your plans, Bert Aranda can walk you through what nearby sales show today. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll keep the conversation grounded in actual numbers.
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