|
|
 
|
|
Author
|
Topic: What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about?
|
John Joseph Fink
Film Handler
Posts: 60
From: West Hartford, CT
Registered: Feb 2006
|
posted 12-23-2006 08:51 PM
The Cineplaza 13 which closed last January moved its Indian programing across town to Star Plex's Columbia Park 12 (they run the bottom 6 screens, StarPlex runs the theaters on the third floor - which show second run movies for $2) in North Bergen, NJ. Columbia Park may also be closing soon, as reported today by the Bergen Record:
NORTH BERGEN -- Vijay Shah has already pulled a rabbit from his hat once to save his beloved Indian movie theater, the epicenter of Bollywood fandom for New Jersey's and New York's large Indian community. He's not sure he'll be able to do it again.
The future of Shah's multiplex, located in an underground parking garage just off Route 495, has been cast in doubt after the building's owner gained approvals this week to tear down the theater and replace it with a 29-story residential and commercial tower.
Shah has already been through a relocation scramble, when the theater's old home, just a few miles north on Tonnelle Avenue, was shut down in January. Now the news of another possible closure has thrown him into a tailspin.
"This [theater] is like the lifeblood of Indian entertainment," Shah said of his seven-screen movie house, the CinePlaza, which is part of a 12-screen multiplex in the Columbia Park shopping center. "This is a home to us."
The owners of the property, Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner Companies, took a step toward redevelopment Wednesday when the North Bergen council approved rezoning the property. The new zoning would permit a 25-story residential tower with up to 350 units, and a four-story commercial and retail base. Other existing tenants in the shopping center, including a ShopRite and Bally's gym, would be untouched by the project, planning studies show. The center was built about seven years ago. Township officials said the developers have not given any timeline for when a formal application may be filed.
In the theater, Shah has built a unique cultural niche where he screens about 60 first-run Indian films a year, including eight or 10 blockbusters that sell as many as 15,000 tickets per run. The theater is the largest Indian theatre on the East coast, with a capacity of about 1,300 seats.
The closing of the theater would be a blow to locals such as Amar Shah, who said he goes to the CinePlaza with his wife and friends about every six weeks. Shah, an electrical engineer from Paramus who is unrelated to Vijay Shah, said he enjoys mainstream American films as well, but said the Columbia Park theater is the best place for him to take in historical and traditional dramas that he says keep him connected to India, from where he emigrated 35 years ago.
"It's the only good place we can see Indian movies," Shah said, citing the theater's cleanliness and stadium-style seating. "The stories we see in the movies really apply to us sometimes. We can follow the culture at the same time."
CinePlaza patrons can choose from concession stands that sell popcorn, samosa pastries and Indian ice cream called kulfi. Most of the films are in Hindi with English subtitles, though some regional Indian films are also screened in Tamil and Telugu.
Forest City representatives could not be reached by phone or e-mail , but township officials said the developers stated the theater was the only part of the shopping center that was unprofitable. The township's rezoning ordinance also cites that claim as part of the justification for the rezoning.
Vijay Shah said he thought the property's financial troubles were over. He shares the multiplex with Starplex Cinemas, a Dallas company that manages the complex and uses the other screens to show second-run American films for $2 a ticket. Shah said Starplex officials told him the theater has been in the black since October, largely because audiences brought in by the Indian theater have fattened concession sales and cut down on nuisance crimes that used to plague the building.
Still, Shah says he has always known that his lease is subject to only a 30-day termination clause, and he says he has begun a half-hearted search for a new home. But he said theaters are hard to come by. He said larger chains will sometimes rent out individual screens in profit-sharing agreements, but there's nothing like having a theater of his own.
"It's a very risky proposition. That's why you don't see so many of these," Shah said.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Justin West
Master Film Handler
Posts: 271
From: Peoria, IL, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
|
posted 12-26-2006 04:11 PM
Awww, I had hopes to reopen that place! ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
The Times Picayune:
Friday, December 22, 2006
New movie megaplex opens today in Slidell
Southern Theatres' The Grand Theatre -- Slidell will open today at 1950 Gause Blvd. West, site of the former Tiger Drive-In.
The megaplex has 16 auditoriums with stadium seating, high-backed rocking chairs and wall-to-wall screens. The theater is Slidell's first to feature all stadium seating.
Among the theater's debut features are "Night at the Museum," "We Are Marshall," "Rocky Balboa" and "Eragon."
Though not available at press time, the theater's informational phone number and Web site are expected to be operational today. Call (985) 641-0149, or visit www.thegrandtheatre.com.
Southern Theatres got its start with the Grand of the East, which opened in eastern New Orleans in December 2002 and was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. It is not expected ever to reopen. The chain now manages 10 megaplexes from North Carolina to Texas, with a concentration of theaters in Louisiana and Mississippi. The chain's 11th theater is expected to open in January.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Justin West
Master Film Handler
Posts: 271
From: Peoria, IL, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
|
posted 01-04-2007 07:55 PM
Bloomington Illinois theatre closes: On 1/3/07 Castle Theater owner Ben Slotky confirmed that his venue had closed, though a church will continue to offer Sunday service there. He refused to say if the theater, located at 209 E. Washington St., would be put up for sale or...if he planned to reopen it in the future, or if he would continue with previously announced plans for a downtown restaurant called "Your Mother’s," although plans for the restaurant had been put on temporary hold for financial reasons.
Bank lenders claimed they had not foreclosed on the Castle nor taken over ownership. Slotky reportedly will continue his development of the Castle’s upper floors into condominiums. Slotky co-owns that space with downtown developer Fred Wollrab. Wollrab, who owns many downtown buildings, predicted this week that someone would purchase and operate the Castle if Slotky sells or if the bank forecloses, because the theater is in such good shape.
The downtown Castle had closed in 1988 but reopened in 2003 after a $1.5 million renovation. The City of Bloomington gave the Castle at least $315,000 in grants to help Slotky with renovations.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999
|
posted 01-18-2007 08:57 AM
Not an opening or closing, but a change in management & expansion.
The Arena Grand Theatre in Downtown Columbus, next to the Blue Jacket's Hockey Arena, will be operated beginning in February by Columbus Hospitality, a company that manages 4 other properties in the Arena area. They claim that the current on-site management will stay in place, but no comment was made about who would be booking the site.
It has been managed by the Drexel Group, a small but successful chain of local theatres. The Grand showed a mix of current releases and "art" pictures, showing mostly current films.
3 additional screens will be added, with a 60 seat room replacing a Ben & Jerry's, and 2 48-seat theatres in an adjacent building.
The Arena Grand is an All-THX 8-plex, with 2 large theatres that included reserved seating, and 1 very small room of around 50.
This is not my preferred theatre in the area. The rooms are very wide and shallow, with some very poor sight angles. One of my worst film experiences ever was seeing RETURN OF THE KING from a front row seat 8' from the screen. I have never been more uncomfortable in a theatre. Had we not been with friends, we would have left. I also find the sound very dry and somewhat unpleasant.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 01-18-2007 02:23 PM
Pittsburgh, PA: Northway cinema to go dark after Sunday -- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
quote:
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Northway Mall 8, a multiplex on McKnight Road in Ross, at the recently renamed Shoppes at Northway, will close at the end of business on Sunday.
"The decision to close the theater, operated by National Amusements, was made because the company had reached the end of its lease contract date, and the landlord made the decision to develop more retail space in the area currently occupied by the cinema," according to a statement by Wanda Whitson, director of corporate media for the theater circuit.
Management at the Shoppes at Northway could not be reached early Tuesday evening.
The theaters have been operated since Dec. 9, 1988, by National Amusements Inc., which also goes by the name Showcase Cinemas and is based in Dedham, Mass.
The complex opened in the early 1980s as a late-run bargain house, owned and operated by a Texas-based corporation. It picked up movies after they had played first-run at the more luxurious Showcase Cinemas North.
After National Amusements purchased the site, it continued operating it as a bargain house.
In 2001 it began booking first-run pictures into Northway Mall 8, sometimes having it share the biggest commercial releases with Showcase North and sometimes giving it wide-release pictures that were bypassing Showcase North, such as the current "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Arthur and the Invisibles."
Northway Mall 8 had done particularly well recently with the programing -- one at a time -- of Indian movies such as "Guru," "Bhagam Bhag" and "Dhoom 2" that were marketed only in the Indian-American community.
Whitson says all 34 cinema employees have been offered jobs at Showcase North.
"Patrons ... may use movie passes, gift cards and prestige tickets" at Showcase North.
National Amusements also previously owned and operated Showcase Cinemas East in Wilkins. It opened as a high-grossing quad June 30, 1976, and closed as a tenplex Sept. 12, 2004, crushed by competition from AMC -- then Loews -- Waterfront and Destinta North Versailles.
Besides the 11-screen Showcase North in McCandless, National Amusements operates the 12-screen Showcase West in Robinson.
-- Ed Blank
| IP: Logged
|
|
Dennis Benjamin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1445
From: Denton, MD
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 02-06-2007 04:03 PM
Historic Senator Theatre to be sold at auction
Link
Historic Senator Theatre to be sold at auction
Owner, $90,000 in arrears on mortgage, says he's not ready to 'throw in the towel'
By Nick Madigan
Sun Reporter
Originally published February 6, 2007
The Senator Theatre, one of the last of the nation's once numerous art deco movie palaces and the only one still showing films in Baltimore, is to be sold at a foreclosure auction Feb. 21.
Tom Kiefaber, the Senator's owner, acknowledged yesterday that he is $90,000 in arrears on a $1.2 million mortgage he took out on the 900-seat theater five years ago.
"I'm extremely concerned that I'm about to lose my theater," said Kiefaber, 54, who also owns the two-screen Rotunda Cinematheque and whose family long ago owned dozens of movie houses in Baltimore.
The Senator, at 5904 York Road, with its plush seats, 35-foot ceilings and elaborate murals about the history of entertainment, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kiefaber, who has faced financial troubles with his theaters before, said 1st Mariner Bank, which holds his loan, believes the Senator "should change hands."
Eugene A. Friedman, the bank's in-house counsel, said that he would have preferred to avoid foreclosure but that Kiefaber has been in default since summer.
"Mr. Kiefaber is a man dedicated to his livelihood," Friedman said. "He's a very nice person to talk to. We wish it would have gone differently."
Larry Hofmeister, a lawyer retained by the bank to handle the auction of the Senator, said Kiefaber has time to make things right. "We're hopeful that Mr. Kiefaber can reinstate the loan, to make it current," Hofmeister said. "We would be very happy if that happened."
Anyone interested in bidding on the ornate single-screen theater, built in 1939, might take note of the current economics of film exhibition, which dictate that it be centered in multiplexes that attract a steady flow of viewers to several films showing concurrently.
"How would you operate it?" James "Buzz" Cusack, principal owner of The Charles Theatre and the Senator's most avid competitor for independent movies, asked of a hypothetical new owner. "With that amount of debt, that's very difficult."
Either way, he said, the auction of the Senator is "a terrible thing."
"That is not good when something fails like that," Cusack said. "It must be terrible for Tom, personally, although he can usually find a way to bail himself out."
Kiefaber was less sure, but he implied that he might come up with a solution.
"I have not dedicated my life to preserving The Senator Theatre for the enjoyment of future generations only to throw in the towel at this stage," he said.
Still, Kiefaber said, he is battling the tides of modern-day economics.
'Bewildered'
"I'm bewildered by what's going on," Kiefaber said. "I feel like I've been walking a tightrope for 18 years."
Kiefaber was referring to the struggle to remain competitive since he purchased the Senator from his family's theater business, Durkee Enterprises, in 1989. The company was founded in Baltimore almost a century ago by Frank Durkee, Kiefaber's grandfather, and at one point owned more than 40 theaters, at a time when there were more than 170 movie houses in the Baltimore area.
Durkee built the Senator, with a circular upper structure of glass blocks and limestone, at a cost of $250,000. At night, fluorescent lamps behind the glass provided a multicolored lighting effect, according to Robert Kirk Headley Jr. in his 1974 book Exit: A History of Movies in Baltimore.
The theater had gold and silver curtains, damask walls and a circular lobby with terrazzo floors. It opened to the public Oct. 5, 1939, with Stanley and Livingstone, starring Spencer Tracy and Nancy Kelly.
City aid unlikely
City officials, who have come to the Senator's aid in the past, say they are unlikely to do so again.
Andrew Frank, deputy mayor for economic development, said last night that Baltimore Development Corp. gave the Senator a $20,000 grant years ago for repairs that enabled it to showcase special effects in a Star Wars movie.
Later, the city, the state and the Abell Foundation funded a $180,000 payment to the Senator, which sits across York Road from recently renovated Belvedere Square. The city's contribution was a loan that called for repayment from the theater's revenues, and it has not been repaid.
More recently, in 2002, the city, through its development arm, agreed to guarantee half of 1st Mariner's $1.2 million loan to Kiefaber to renovate and reopen the Rotunda, which had been closed for more than a year under other owners, and to help shore up the Senator. Kiefaber also put up the Senator, his home and other real estate as collateral, he said.
Frank said it is unlikely that if the bank fails to cover its loan at the auction, the city will be liable for its share of the loan guarantee, $600,000, given the other collateral available.
"I'm confident that it will not be the full amount, and I'm hopeful that it won't be a significant amount," Frank said.
'Sad turn of events'
In any event, said Frank, 40, who remembers going to the Senator as a child to watch movies, the proposed auction is "a sad turn of events."
"Mr. Kiefaber has worked tirelessly over the years to buck the trend toward multiscreen theaters," he said. "And, largely to the credit of Mr. Kiefaber, the Senator is an institution and an anchor in that community. It's a critical piece of real estate on York Road. It was always a treat to see a movie on the big screen at the Senator, and it still is."
[ 02-07-2007, 06:52 AM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 02-08-2007 10:01 AM
Ding, dong, the UltraBlur is dead! (or will be, anyway)
Marcus Westown Cinema in Waukesha, WI Closing 2/11
The Business Journal of Milwaukee
12:03 PM CST Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Article
quote:
Marcus Theatres Corp. said Tuesday that the last day of operation for its Westown Cinema in Waukesha will be Feb. 11.
Milwaukee-based Marcus (NYSE: MCS) is replacing the movie theater, along with the West Point Cinema in Brookfield, with the new Marcus Majestic Cinema in the town of Brookfield.
Westown first opened in 1983 and was the site of the company's first super-large-screen UltraScreen eight years ago. The Westown Cinema was purchased by the Oppidan Investment Co. for $8.9 million. The Minnetonka, Minn., developer will raze the theatre to make way for a Gander Mountain store.
The Marcus Majestic Cinema will be the company's new flagship theater located on Springdale Road, adjacent to Sam's Club. The new theater will be an entertainment destination featuring traditional theaters, two UltraScreens, cafes, a multipurpose venue designed for various forms of entertainment and a cocktail lounge. The theater is scheduled to open in spring 2007.
For now, the West Point Cinema at Barker and Bluemound roads in Brookfield will continue to operate.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Topic Closed
![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic