Council Forgives $700,000 Opera House Loan
In exchange, the city keeps the right to use the historic ballroom 20 times a year through at least 2030.
NAPA: The Napa City Council has approved a new agreement with the Napa Valley Opera House nonprofit that forgives an outstanding $700,000 city loan and, in return, guarantees the city the right to use the historic building’s ballroom 20 times each year.
The agreement releases the nonprofit from its debt to the city and associated obligations, while setting terms for what the landmark property can be used for going forward.
Under the deal, the city will also be reimbursed for expenses tied to its use of the property, up to $10,000 a year. The city’s usage rights run through the later of Dec. 31, 2030, or the termination of the opera house’s lease with Blue Note Napa, the jazz club and restaurant that occupies the building’s first floor.
The city keeps the right to use the ballroom 20 times a year, with expenses capped at $10,000.
A downtown landmark
The opera house opened on Feb. 13, 1880, with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, and was designed in the Italianate style by the firm of Newsom and Newsom, the architects behind Eureka’s Carson Mansion. The building boasted a stained-glass skylight, brass chandeliers and a curved staircase, and in its early years it hosted vaudeville acts, musical performances and notable figures including John Philip Sousa and Jack London.
The venue closed in 1914 after earthquake damage, the decline of vaudeville and the rise of film, then served commercial purposes for more than 70 years. A community effort in the 1970s saved it from demolition and set the stage for a full restoration. The renovated opera house reopened in 2003 with two venues: the Blue Note Napa jazz club and the JaM Cellars Ballroom.
The new agreement preserves a public stake in the landmark. The city keeps a standing reservation for civic events in the ballroom, with its costs capped, while the nonprofit sheds a debt that had tied it to City Hall.
The building’s first floor is occupied by Blue Note Napa, a jazz club and restaurant, and the city’s usage rights run through the later of Dec. 31, 2030, or the end of the opera house’s lease with that tenant. The agreement also sets terms for what the landmark property can be used for going forward, giving the city a continuing stake in one of downtown Napa’s most recognizable buildings.
For the nonprofit, the deal trades a $700,000 debt owed to City Hall for guaranteed public access to its ballroom, an arrangement that keeps a civic footprint in a privately held historic venue while freeing the organization to plan its future without the loan overhang.
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