Owners of two of downtown's oldest, best-known performance venues are considering returning concerts to the Nile, potentially through the building's sale to the Fox Theater.
Representatives of both theaters said talks remain preliminary, and one noted the Nile's need for a new roof could pose an obstacle. But with motivation on each side — the property's owner faces a property surplus, and the Fox sees opportunity in bringing acts to the smaller building — things could move quickly, or not.
"It could be an opportunity this year or five years from now. We really don't know," board member John Enriquez of the nonprofit Fox Theater Foundation said Thursday.
The Nile, opened in 1906 as the Bakersfield Opera House, measures 8,320 square feet with about 500 seats, or roughly a third of the Fox's capacity. The property is home on Sunday mornings to Bakersfield Collective Church, though the property has been owned since 2017 by Resurrection Church, which has administrative offices near the Nile and a sprawling main campus north of the Panorama Bluffs along Manor Street.
Pastor Daniel Morgan at Resurrection said his church would want to ensure The Collective is allowed to retain use of the property for worship services regardless of a possible sale or concerts.
He noted maintenance and upgrades have been expensive. Roof leaks that last month forced The Collective to cancel some services are, for now, being addressed with patches, Morgan said.
The challenge his and other churches across the country face is an attendance decline that may or may not become "the new norm," Morgan said. He emphasized a decision on whether to sell the Nile would have to be approved by Resurrection's board of elders and, ultimately, the congregation itself.
"For us, we philosophically do not believe that everything that God puts in our hands was intended for our consumption," he said. "God doesn't give us possessions as much as he gives us things to steward." He added that the idea of bringing concerts to the Nile sounds wonderful.
The Fox's foundation is listed by nonprofit information clearinghouse Guidestar as having assets topping $1 million. Enriquez said adding the Nile would make sense because it would provide a venue for smaller acts that can't fill the Fox.
The Nile has a nice little stage, he said, and quality tables and chairs that can be arranged in a variety of ways to suit different events.
The leaky roof had not been brought to Enriquez's attention and he said the problem would require a careful inspection of "all those things before we make any sort of agreement." He emphasized, as Morgan did, that discussions continue in early stages.
"We're quite a ways off on anything, but we always dream," Enriquez said. "We always look at opportunities."