Point Loma residents spoke out Tuesday, April 10, against the commercialization of the 1,800-seat Luce Auditorium, located at the former Naval Training Center, during a community forum.
District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer and NTC Foundation representatives hosted the discussion to gather ideas from the community as to what friends and neighbors want the building to become, according to Alan Ziter, executive director of the NTC Foundation.
The NTC Foundation is charged with renovating the building according to current building safety standards in order to lease or use the space, Ziter said.
No agreements have been signed nor have any decisions been made as to the future of the site, Ziter said. Yet, one by one, residents continued to voice disapproval of a pirate-themed dinner theater proposed by a private company to the NTC Foundation.
“We don’t know what the result will be,” Falconer said, “[but] it is a resource for all of us to use, and that’s what I’m going to fight for.”
At the forum, Faulconer said he aims to gather interested community members to meet in the coming weeks to “fill the gaps” of a $65,000 needs and use assessment to find the best use for the auditorium.
The NTC Foundation needs to raise about $50,000 for the assessment, Ziter said.
Community members and neighbors offered suggestions about what they would like to see in the building.
While one person in attendance proposed a small chamber music recital hall, Javier Velasco, artistic director of the San Diego Ballet, said his organization would like to see a multicultural performing arts venue that would be the defining statement of NTC’s arts and culture district.
The San Diego Ballet, the Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theatre and Malashock Dance currently occupy Dance Place San Diego, the building adjacent the Luce. A performing arts venue at the location would allow those companies to take full advantage of the facility if it were renovated into a performing arts venue, Velasco said.
Luce Auditorium was built in 1941 and has been used for lectures, naval training sessions and Saturday night movies, Lew Witherspoon, NTC Foundation operations director, said.
The 20,000-square-foot auditorium has hosted performances by Bob Hope, Nat King Cole and many other legendary entertainers, Witherspoon continued.
The NTC Foundation is a nonprofit organization charged with stewardship of 26 buildings at Liberty Station. The foundation has raised approximately $26 million and has completed preliminary improvements on six buildings so far, according to Marianne Gregson, director of marketing for the NTC Foundation.
