Oceanside

Moving a step closer to realization of a new $20-million civic center complex, the Oceanside City Council tentatively agreed Wednesday to lease the proposed facility from the city’s redevelopment agency.

Council members voted unanimously to approve the lease deal, a move that paves the way for financing of the project.

Under terms of the leasing scheme, the redevelopment agency will finance construction of the center and then rent the new facility to the city. The lease agreement will not be final until financing arrangements are made.

The 108,000-square-foot complex, scheduled to be completed by the summer of 1988, would be financed with the sale of tax-exempt lease revenue bonds by the redevelopment agency. Sale of those bonds is expected to take place later this month.

In a related move on Tuesday, the council agreed to incorporate part of the existing City Hall into the new complex. Local historical buffs had requested City Hall be allowed to remain because the 57-year-old building was reportedly designed by noted architect Irving Gill.

But the council declined to save the Palomar Theater, a 62-year-old structure that historians argued should also remain standing. The theater, which now shows X-rated films, will be demolished to make way for the new civic center.