Fresno’s Tower Theater drama continues

The City of Fresno appears to be finally putting to rest all legal challenges to its purchase of the iconic Tower Theater, whose prospective purchase by an evangelical church caused a firestorm of protest in the surrounding Tower District. The city obtained the property from private owners in 2022 after the owners cancelled a contract with Adventure Church, which is affiliated with the Church of the Foursquare. Just as the proposed sale caused a firestorm, the cancellation of the sale caused a firestorm of litigation, all of which the church has lost. Most recently, the city brought an anti-SLAPP motion, claiming that the church’s litigation against the city – arising from a claim of financial losses made to the city – was based on words and actions that were protected under the law. In an unpublished ruling issued on July 19, the Fifth District Court of Appeal agreed. The possible sale of the Tower Theater to Adventure Church – including renting the space to the church for its services – led to considerable blowback from the city’s LBTQ+ community, which is centered in the Tower District. Adventure argued in the most recent lawsuit that the city interfered with the sale of the property by Tower Theater Productions to Adventure, even as the sale unraveled for other reasons.

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