CITY COUNCIL WINN ROOM SUBCOMMITTEE STAFF REPORT
March 20, 2024 5c.
WINN ROOM RENOVATION PROJECT – AVAILABILITY OF OUTSIDE VENUES RECOMMENDATION:
Receive report on availability and cost of select outside venues within the community.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council met on December 12, 2023 and provided direction to confirm the availability and cost of select external venues for partnership opportunities to offset events currently taking place in the Winn Room. Those venues include Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado Village Theater, Coronado Playhouse, and the Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) Performing Arts Center.
ANALYSIS:
At the December 12, 2023 City Council meeting, City staff provided data on all of the publicly available meeting spaces within the City of Coronado, including City facilities, churches, commercial/non-profit venues, schools and hotels. Staff provided a full listing of facilities and venues to City Council which is included as Attachment 1.
Based on the list provided at that meeting, City Council then asked staff to gather additional information on outside venues that are not within the City’s direct control, specifically on Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado Village Theater, Coronado Playhouse, and the Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) Performing Arts Center. Staff further explored the availability of those facilities, associated rental costs and the ability of those venues to accommodate events based on their current operations.
A summary of each outside venue, listed by seating capacity, follows.
Coronado Playhouse
Coronado’s oldest established community theater located at 1145 Strand Way.
Capacity seating without tables: 96.
Availability: Very limited.
The City’s current agreement with the Playhouse allows the City up to three (3) week-long periods available per year for City use with flexibility to schedule other City events when it’s not being used by the Playhouse. This limits the availability of this space as an alternative venue to the Winn Room. Currently, the Recreation and Golf Services Department utilizes the Playhouse for programming space approximately 12 times a year.
The Coronado Playhouse performance schedule is online through December 2024. Their shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Saturday and Sunday matinees. Rentals have to work around rehearsals and set designs.
CUSD Black Box Theatre at Coronado High School
CUSD performance space located at 650 D Avenue.
Theatre capacity: 120 seated. Stage and A/V technology available.
Availability: Limited.
Coronado High School black box theater is available for rent through the Facilitron Rental Portal. Availability is subject to school usage. Rental rate is approximately $25 per hour plus additional charges for chairs, technology, and staffing. Reduced rate available depending on organization and event. A four-hour event for a nonprofit organization would cost approximately $271.
Coronado Vintage Village Theater
Privately owned movie theater located at 840 Orange Avenue.
Main auditorium seats 215 people. The stage is big enough for a small gathering of people.
Availability: Limited.
Showtime schedules have decreased since the pandemic and many afternoons on weekdays are open. Weekends are more of a challenge for rental, but weekend mornings are often available. Exclusive use of the entire venue would be more expensive. A four-hour event for the main auditorium would cost $1,500.
Lamb’s Players Theatre
Coronado’s local professional theater located at 1142 Orange Avenue.
Main Theatre capacity is 350 seats. Stage is available. Onsite A/V is available.
Availability: Very limited.
It is difficult to estimate the cost of hosting a four-hour event with Lamb’s robust production and rehearsal schedules the theatre availability is very limited. However, they are willing to discuss potential one-off usages if the event fits within their performance schedules. Costs of rental would vary, based on day of the week, nature of event and technical support needed. Events may have to work around rehearsals and set designs. Due to the inconsistent availability of this venue, it would not be a reliable optional venue.
Coronado Performing Arts Center Mainstage at Coronado High School Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) is a public arts conservatory serving grades 9 through 12 located at 650 D Avenue.
Capacity: 570 seats. Stage and A/V technology available.
Availability: Currently limited, with potential to add additional programming dates.
CoSA is the only publicly owned state-of-the are theatre facility in Coronado. The facility is the primary venue for the Coronado School of the Arts and has a robust schedule of programming.
The district rents the facility based on excess availability after student usage is accommodated and uses an online scheduling program, Facilitron, to facilitate rentals. A four-hour event for a organization to rent the mainstage for four hours would cost approximately $850.
The City of Coronado has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Coronado Unified School District that allows free usage of CUSD facilities which include the Black Box Theatre and the Mainstage Theatre. The agreement allows the City to reserve facilities if they are not being used for student events. Since 2022, the City has reserved the Mainstage approximately 10 - 12 times a year for events sponsored by both the Coronado Public Library, the Cultural Arts Commission, and the City of Coronado.
Additional uses of CoSA include the Coronado Community Band that hold three weekly practices and the Coronado Island Film Festival (CIFF) that uses the Mainstage facility annually during the Film Festival in November for approximately three days.
CUSD has expressed a willingness to accommodate additional City and non-profit large events, but has stated that CUSD use takes precedence when allocating use of the venue.
Events Exceeding Winn Room Capacity
There were approximately 11 events since May 2022 that exceeded the Winn Room’s current capacity that required them to be moved to another facility. All were moved to CoSA, with the exception of two: Lisa See to the Nautilus Room and Geena Davis to the Hotel del Coronado. A listing of the displaced events is included in Attachment 2. All 11 events were spoken word events, rather than musical performances which typically take place at CoSA due to the superior acoustic quality of the auditorium.
Five of the larger events could have been accommodated by Winn Room Option 3 and six could have been accommodated by Winn Room Option 4. Five of the events exceeded the capacity of the Winn Room, regardless of the scope of the renovation proposed.
A summary of the capacities and cost of each Winn Room renovation option is listed below*:
Option 1
Interior
Upgrades
Option 2
Interior
Upgrades and
Elevate Ceiling
Option 3
Internal
Expansion
Option 4
Larger
Expansion
Seating Capacity
(code minimum) 135 135 180 208
Total Project
Cost $3.28 M $4.15 M $6.44 M $9.72 M
* Option 1 includes significant interior upgrades within the existing Winn Room footprint of 1,680 square feet. Option 2 raises the ceiling of the Winn Room and includes the interior upgrades outlined within Option 1 with no increase in square footage. Option 3 increases the size of the Winn Room to 2,316 square feet, raises the ceiling and slightly expands the footprint of the facility.
Option 4 increases the size of the Winn Room to 2,931 square feet, raises the ceiling and expands the footprint of the facility with an optional outdoor deck.
Ability of Select Outside Venues to Accommodate Large Events Based on the sizes of the larger events historically displaced from the Winn Room, only the Village Theater and CoSA have potential availability, access, and capacity to accommodate those types of events. Further discussions would need to take place with both organizations to determine the true ability to partner with the City to accommodate larger community events within a reasonable budget.
RECOMMNEDATION:
Receive the report and provide direction to staff on these facilities or others in the community that might merit additional exploration.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
ALTERNATIVE:
None.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT:
Not Applicable.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
No notice required.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Citywide Facilities Use Data
Attachment 2 – Larger Events Displaced from Winn Room
Submitted By: City Manager's Office / Tony Winney