Por Dustin Lothspeich

North Park, meet the Observatory.

The new year was ushered in for San Diego in a huge way on Jan. 6, when news broke that The North Park Theatre and its adjoining restaurant, West Coast Tavern, were being sold to the owners of the massively successful Observatory Orange County music venue in Santa Ana.

The 86-year-old theater and the restaurant were previously owned by David Cohen, Bobby Jones and The Verant Group, which also owns several other popular San Diego locales such as Uptown Tavern (Hillcrest), Sandbar Sports Grill (Mission Beach), Tavern at the Beach (Pacific Beach), True North Tavern (North Park), as well as Ginger and Barley Mash (both Downtown), among others.

The details of the sale, which were finalized on Thursday, Jan. 15, were not made public by press time, but according to a press release, the decision to sell the theater and its restaurant was a tough one to make.

“Both of these venues are near and dear to us,” Cohen said in the release. “But I know that under this particular new ownership, both establishments will reach new levels of success, and that is not only good for the businesses themselves, it will greatly benefit the community of North Park as a whole.”

Cohen and his fellow investors had actually purchased The North Park Theatre in September 2013 and, by June of last year, had unveiled a remodeled interior with an expanded 1,100-person standing-room floor — and a calendar that included big name artists such as The New Pornographers, Rodriguez, Lykke Li, and Ronnie Spector among others. Last year, they claimed they were planning on booking over 100 shows in 2015.

Somewhere along the line, the people behind Santa Ana’s Observatory decided they wanted a slice of the North Park pie. William Lopez, principal at PR firm Alternative Strategies (which represents The Verant Group), said the new owners plan to make the transition as seamless as possible, with the previously scheduled shows booked by The North Park Theatre still going forward, and the West Coast Tavern (and its employees) expected to stay on.

“[The West Coast Tavern] will remain as it currently operates — same name, same staff and same concept,” he said.

The surrounding commercial district began reaping the benefits of The North Park Theatre’s relaunch as soon as it started hosting live music last year. North Park Main Street Executive Director Angela Landsberg said the venue’s been a boon to the area.

“There’s been an incredible revitalization in that node of the community, and you can attribute that to the theater,” Landsberg said. “There’s been an increase in retail sales, and there’s also been more interest by tenants wanting to come into this area.”

The North Park Theatre’s revitalization came at a time of rapid business growth in the North Park area, centered nearby around the intersection of University Avenue and 30th Street. Landsberg explained that the theater clearly wasn’t sold because of disappointing ticket sales or due to investors’ withdrawal from a sagging economy.

“This wasn’t a fire sale,” she said. “Somebody saw an opportunity and wanted to put down this kind of money in our area. And let’s be real: This is not chump change.”

Admittedly, it seems like strange timing — the theater recently hosted sold out shows by Ms. Lauryn Hill, Flying Lotus, and Yellowcard and has already sold out future shows for TV On The Radio (April 1) and Neutral Milk Hotel (May 28). But the new owners possibly saw a venue — and community — that had proved to be profitable and popular during its six-month run.

When the theater re-opened its doors last year, it did so with the help of talent buyer extraordinaire Tim Mays — who owns The Casbah— and aside from booking his own club, also presents shows all over San Diego at venues such as the Belly Up Tavern, Soda Bar, The Hideout and The Irenic.

His involvement was crucial, but it looks like now he’ll play a rather less pivotal role in booking from here on out. According to Lopez, the Observatory North Park won’t need a whole lot of help on that front.

“The new company will be doing their own booking. [Mays] does have the option to book shows there though — so, in essence, if he has a show he wants to book at Observatory North Park, and they don’t have something booked on that date, they will work with him to book the show. But, they wanted to buy the building because they have the ability to book it themselves.”

Observatory Orange County has established itself as the go-to venue of national touring acts between Los Angeles and San Diego. The venue hosts nightly shows on its main stage and in its smaller adjoining Constellation Room, so it’s no stretch to say San Diegans will have a lot of shows to choose from with an Observatory location in town.

“If you were to look at the calendar from last year, the majority of the shows at The North Park Theatre were also booked at the Observatory Orange County. It’s a natural extension, and it’s a natural progression of artist’s tours to come here now. There were only 80 shows at The North Park Theatre, but under Observatory North Park, there will be over 200 shows in 2015. That’s double the shows, and they’ll be covering a lot more genres.”

The Observatory in Santa Ana routinely plays home to several multiple-day festivals a year such as Burgerama (this year’s lineup includes Weezer, Ty Segall, Black Lips and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony), Psycho California Fest (which includes Earthless, Russian Circles and Pallbearer), the Indigo Music Festival (including The Melvins, Rocket From the Crypt, and Deafheaven) and the huge, annual Beach Goth festival curated by The Growlers. What are the odds that those festivals or others make their way down to the North Park location now? Better than they were before, that’s for sure.

Like many music fans around the county, Lopez was upbeat about the sale, and added that the new ownership isn’t looking to re-haul the venue and its strategy: “They’re trying to keep as much as they can in place because they obviously saw how well it was doing. They’re not trying to fix something that, ultimately, wasn’t broken.”

—Póngase en contacto con Dustin Lothspeich en [email protected].