Channel 30 reports: Could the Tower Theatre ‘Adventure’ be over?

ABC30’s Corin Hoggard, who has been staying on top of the “Let’s sell the Tower Theatre to a Church!” story with the doggedness of a TV evangelist calculating the depreciation on his Tesla, is tweeting Tuesday evening that the sale to Adventure Church could be in peril.

TOWER THEATRE deal nixed?
New court filing from attorney for Tower Theatre ownership says the whole thing is moot b/c the March 31 escrow deadline was not extended.
“Once escrow is terminated, (owners) will withdraw the property from the market and consider alternative plans.” pic.twitter.com/OlXMmsnFWC

— Corin Hoggard (@corinhoggard) April 7, 2021

Hoggard attaches a letter to Justice Donald R. Franson of the Fifth District Court of Appeal from the law firm representing the Tower Theatre ownership. The letter notes that the deadline to complete the sale and close escrow expired on March 31. That deadline was not extended. “Once escrow is terminated, Defendant will withdraw the property from the market and consider alternative plans,” the letter says.

In another tweet, Hoggard goes on to say that the filing is from today, “but it isn’t definitive that the escrow is terminated yet.” There’s no answer yet, he adds, from his contacts at Adventure Church, which had been angling to buy the landmark.

Related story: COMMENTARY: WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD SO OPPOSED, WHY WOULD ADVENTURE CHURCH WANT TO BUY THE TOWER THEATRE?

So, it could be that the Adventure Church deal — and the litigation filed to block it by Sequoia Brewery, one of the Tower Theatre complex tenants — is moot.

Then again, this is all rather complicated because there’s more than just the theater for sale — it’s essentially an entire block that includes three restaurants and space for another.

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Which also raises the question of why a church is involved in what appears to be essentially a leveraged buyout (purchasing a way-pricey piece of real estate and then selling off chunks to make the deal work financially), but I guess that religious institutions can have their Wall Street moments, too.

Meanwhile, I’m sensing guarded “don’t jinx it” optimism from the Save the Tower Theatre Facebook group tonight.

In a post, the group says: “Looks like something big may be happening. It’s too early to get excited, but is this a sign of an end to this…”

We can only hope.