Change.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Crystal Palace is not just a building,\u201d the petition states. \u201cIt is the physical heart of the Bakersfield Sound and a monument to Buck Owens\u2019 lifelong dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 21,354-square-foot venue on 3.1 acres at 2800 Buck Owens Blvd. opened in 1996. Beset by increased food and labor costs, along with Owens family members\u2019s desire to step back from management responsibilities, it closed about a year ago after being listed for sale for more than $7 million in 2024.<\/p>\n
Purchase offers have come in but none has been accepted, said Jim Shaw, who serves as managing director and a board member of the Buck Owens Private Foundation that owns the property.<\/p>\n
Shaw confirmed that the highest purchase offer came from an entity that proposes to demolish the building in favor of an undisclosed reuse. If that bid prevails, he said, the music memorabilia contained inside the property would be removed for storage elsewhere. Otherwise, the memorabilia would be sold along with the property.<\/p>\n
The former Buckeroo said his preference would be that the building be preserved. But the sale can\u2019t be put off indefinitely, Shaw emphasized, and if it must be torn down, he would plan to be out of town on vacation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal to me, that place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He declined to identify the size of the offer but said, \u201cIt\u2019s not terribly far off from the number we have in our mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The online petition calls on city and Kern County officials, as well as local and state historical preservation organizations, to work toward enactment of historic zoning protections \u201cand block any prospective demolition or destructive re-zoning permits.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Bakersfield City Manager\u2019s Office issued a statement in response to questions about the petition. It acknowledged the Crystal Palace is a \u201cvaluable community asset.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain optimistic about the next chapter of the Crystal Palace that will continue its long-term legacy,\u201d it stated. \u201cThe City Council has directed staff to work with the property owners to explore incentives or partnerships that would facilitate purchase of the property by a private party.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement put to rest the idea of spending taxpayer dollars to buy the property, as the city considered doing last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city is not in a financial position for an outright purchase of the property but remains open to public-private partnerships,\u201d it said. \u201cThere is no specific proposal or outcome for the property that the city is aware of at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Word that an unidentified developer wants to buy and demolish Buck Owens\u2019 Crystal Palace has prompted the launch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-434630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}