Theater under 30-day agreement

PALO ALTO — A top city official indicated Friday that Palo Alto’s popular CinéArts theater may stay open another month as its fate is negotiated.

“We understand the parties have signed a 30-day agreement to allow for continued negotiations, so we are hopeful that this means the theater will stay,” Planning Director Hillary Gitelman said by email.

There have been conflicting reports from city officials, theater employees and the property owner about the closure of the theater in Palo Alto Square at 3000 El Camino Real.

Cinemark, the owner of CinéArts, has not returned calls or emails about the issue since news surfaced last month that the theater did not plan to renew its lease.

Gitelman said in late July that building owner Hudson Pacific Properties noted that it was the theater’s decision not to renew the lease. Hudson Pacific representatives said then that they would reach out to the theater tenant again to see if there’s anything the city can do to encourage it to stay.

The theater remained open Saturday, and movies were listed through at least Thursday.

A theater employee who declined to give his name had said on Wednesday that the theater will stay open for now. He said he did not know whether the theater will stay open for good or if the closure was just delayed.

Councilwomen Karen Holman and Liz Kniss have worked with residents to figure out ways to keep the theater open.

A petition asking the theater to remain open has more than 2,500 signatures so far. The petition was submitted to the theater Tuesday, according to Arthur Keller, a Palo Alto resident who helped start and circulate it.

“It’s clear that the petition and city staff’s position that the theater is a required use of the PC (Planned Community zone) helped city staff and Councilmembers Holman and Kniss make the case to retain the theater, at least for now,” Keller said by email.

Gitelman has said that if CinéArts leaves, the building’s owner will have to find another theater tenant or request rezoning for an alternate use.

Palo Alto Square was developed through a Planned Community zoning ordinance in 1969, which allows such uses as office space and a hotel and has since been amended.

The closure of CinéArts would leave Palo Alto with the Aquarius Theatre on Emerson Street, which also is a first-run theater that shows some independent films, and the Stanford Theatre, which shows classic movies.