{"id":282106,"date":"2026-04-23T14:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282106\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:39:09","slug":"historic-east-bay-movie-theater-site-lands-buyer-from-beverly-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282106\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic East Bay movie theater site lands buyer from Beverly Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERKELEY \u2014 A historic Berkeley movie house that has been closed for years has been bought by a Los Angeles-area executive who wields an array of business interests in Southern California.<\/p>\n

An affiliate headed up by Tien Lung Chen, a resident of the famed enclave of Beverly Hills, paid $5 million to buy the shuttered California Theatre<\/a> in Berkeley, documents filed on April 20 with the Alameda County Recorder\u2019s Office show.<\/p>\n

\"AStreet-level view of the shuttered California Theatre movie house at 2115 Kittredge in Berkeley, as seen in June 2024.\u00a0(Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

The Chen-led group bought the old movie theater at 2115 Kittredge St. in Berkeley through an all-cash deal, according to the county real estate files.<\/p>\n

The California Theatre closed its doors in 2021, one of the multitude of economic casualties doomed by the coronavirus in the Bay Area and worldwide.<\/p>\n

The theater\u2019s future has been murky ever since.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Gilbane Development proposed the development of a housing tower on the site along with a transformation of the ground floor into a performing arts venue.<\/p>\n

The proposal would have preserved the movie theater\u2019s facade and potentially some of the interior sections of the former cinema.<\/p>\n

In 2025, however, Gilbane Development pulled out of the project<\/a>, an abrupt exit that effectively scuttled the plans for the housing tower and the movie theater\u2019s revamp.<\/p>\n

Chen, a key figure in the affiliate that bought the California Theatre property, is linked to the ownership group for Exotic Dreams Resort, official state business records show.<\/p>\n

The Exotic Dreams Resort is a clothing-optional swingers hotel in Palm Springs, an upscale getaway destination in the Coachella Valley.<\/p>\n

In September 2025, a Chen-led group paid $11 million for a Pasadena property, documents on file in Los Angeles County show. The Pasadena property is described as a potential development site.<\/p>\n

Alameda County and state government documents show that Chen receives correspondence, including property tax bills, at a Beverly Hills single-family home that is valued at $4.4 million. A Chen-led affiliate paid $4 million for that home in 2019.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t immediately clear what plans Chen might have for the California Theatre movie house in Berkeley.<\/p>\n

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