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Topic: What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about?
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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 08-03-2009 09:12 AM
web page
quote:
Coming soon: Restored Capitol Theatre to be a marquee player in improved Gordon Square
Posted by jmorona August 02, 2009 10:00AM
Cinema-starved West Siders, the clock is finally ticking in your favor. In just over eight weeks, on Oct. 3, the renovated Capitol Theatre will open. Really. I've seen it. It's zipping right along toward completion.
The building on West 65th Street just north of Detroit Avenue, will feature three movie theaters, a beautiful new lobby, and classy old touches mixed with high-tech equipment.
Part of the $30 million Gordon Square Arts District project, the theater will host grand-opening events Thursday and Friday, Oct. 1 and 2, with a full slate of films starting Saturday, Oct. 3. Opening weekend will kick off with LeBron James' new documentary "More Than a Game."
Owned by the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, the Capitol will be managed and programmed by Cleveland Cinemas, which runs five area theaters including the Cedar Lee and Shaker Square. The theater is expected to employ about 15-20 people.
The projection systems will be digital, with the main theater, which seats 420, wired for 3-D. The two upstairs theaters, in the old balcony space, will seat 100 each.
"It will show a mix of mainstream movies along with independent and foreign films, the Cedar Lee type of fare, " said Dave Huffman, Cleveland Cinemas' director of marketing.
The Gordon Square Arts District, which runs along Detroit Avenue from West 58th to West 73rd streets, is slated to include new performance space for the Near West Theatre, a renovated Cleveland Public Theatre, a spate of street and sidewalk improvements, and more parking lots.
"The Capitol Theatre will be the economic engine for the whole Gordon Square Arts District," said Joy Roller, executive director of the GSAD. "It will bring tens of thousands of people into the area, and that will mean more restaurants, bars, shops and galleries."
Step one is the completion of streetscape improvements by the end of September. The sidewalks are being widened, utility polls are coming down, wires are going underground, 100 trees are being planted, and public art will be added to make the neighborhood more inviting.
The Capitol, which opened in 1921 as a 1,300-seat vaudeville and silent-film venue, has been in disrepair since the mid-1980s.
Construction crews are currently renovating the interior, which includes a gleaming new concessions stand. A column in the lobby has already been fitted with a time capsule that features photos, newspapers, and a Letter to the Future predicting the theater will "become the center of entertainment and economic rebirth on Cleveland's West Side."
If you're feeling generous, they're seeking donations to eventually add an old-fashioned "blade" sign with a vertical CAPITOL beckoning from the corner of West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue, said project manager Lisa Kious McGovern. The sign could run about $50,000. (Go to Gordonsquare.org for more information.)
The new seats were just installed, with audio-visual equipment arriving later this month, and the marquee lights going up in September.
Speaking of seats, the crew could have resurrected the old ones to keep the vintage look, but it wasn't practical.
"We've grown as a population" said McGovern, putting it delicately.
The bigger behinds of modern Americans require wider cushions. The 620 new seats are extra plush, and include a circular touch that would have been alien to moviegoers of the 1920s: cup-holders.
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 08-09-2009 08:30 PM
Wow, more competition coming to our county
http://www.idahopress.com/front/?id=25366
Theater approaches renaissance
NAMPA — In recent weeks, a
construction crew has quietly started
to bring Karcher Mall's theater back
to life.
In an interview with the Idaho
Press-Tribune this past week at the
theater, Oregon-based Northern Lights
Cinema Grill
owner Kevin Roudebush said his
company's unique concept will fit well
in Karcher Mall. He hopes to unveil
the area's
first cinema/grill concept sometime in
September.
In the theater, space will be left for
dining tables as every other row of
seats is removed so customers can eat
a
meal and watch a movie at the same
time. Beer and wine may also be a
possibility, pending approval of a
license.
Karcher Mall saw its first movie
theater open in 1973 with Karcher Twin
Theaters, later renamed Nampa Reel
Theatre.
Since 2001, the two-screen cinema has
remained dormant, just as many
theaters across the country left malls
to take up
residence in large, freestanding
megaplexes.
Roudebush hopes to lure customers with
a unique combination of low ticket
prices and quality dining. Aside from
Hollywood blockbusters, Roudebush said
the theater will also feature special
events like Broncos games, Monday
night
football, mixed martial arts fights
and comedy acts.
"With this, we're going to bring
people back to the theater that
haven't gone to the movies in a long,
long time,"
Roudebush said.
Commercial real estate expert Bob
Mitchell said the unusual concept
could help rejuvenate Karcher Mall.
"Malls have always been entertainment
spots," Mitchell said. "A cinema grill
is a hot new concept, and anything
that's
new and different is going to give any
shopping center a new shot in the
arm."
I worked at the twin from 1991 to 1997. A very nice twin with 350 seats per side. Booth contained CineV-18's with one side mono and Dolby 4channel CP50 on the other. This twin has been vacant since 2001 when EDW's 14 across the street was built 2 yrs earlier and business slowly died there at the twin. My friend have those Cines now when we got salvage rights within the theatre a few years ago..
-Monte
[ 08-09-2009, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]
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