posted 12-17-2015 10:25 PM                       

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(The Des Moines Register, 12/17/15) Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres plans to build a 12-screen theater called The Palms in Waukee next year.

The movie theater company bought 15 acres on the northwest corner of Northeast Westgate Drive and Hickman Road for $2.4 million, said Brian Fridley, vice president of Fridley Theatres.

The company is in the early design stages, but it expects construction to begin in late summer. The theater should open in spring 2017.

Depending on the size and scope of the project, some of the land purchased by the company could be sold for additional development.

Fridley said the Waukee theater will feature amenities to compete with other theater chains that are adding comfortable seating and more food and drink options. “Everyone is doing something different in theaters now,” he said.

The Palms could include a “premiere, large-screen format,” but "all that needs to be worked out,” he said.

Fridley Theatres owns 22 movie theaters with about 100 screens in Iowa and Nebraska. The 41-year-old company recently renovated the Copper Creek Theatre in Pleasant Hill, adding wide leather rocking chairs. Fridley also is looking into remodeling its Springwood 9 theater in Ankeny. That project could include more comfortable seating and additional screens.

The Waukee location is in a growing area that will see new development with the opening of Grand Prairie Parkway, which extends south from University Avenue to a new interchange at Interstate Highway 80.

The proposed theater would be about seven miles from both the Cobblestone 9 theater in Urbandale and the Century 20 theater at Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines.

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posted 02-03-2016 02:44 PM                    

quote: northjersey.com

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CLOSTER — With reconstruction well under way at Closter Plaza, new tenants are signing on to move into the 208,337-square-foot mall on Vervalen Street.

Local officials have confirmed that at least three new establishments have signed leases with mall developer Edens to move into the plaza next year.

Home Goods, Village Whisky, and Distrito are among the businesses that will be moving in among Closter Plaza's 40 storefronts, said Mayor John Glidden.

A Whole Foods, which will anchor the mall, should be completed by next year. Other establishments, including a movie theater, a pizzeria and a jewelry store, will remain open during construction.

Closter Plaza will be the second New Jersey location for Distrito, a Mexican restaurant from chef Jose Garces. The location in Moorestown has earned acclaim and made New Jersey Monthly's list of Best New Restaurants this year. Garces, who operates roughly a dozen restaurants across the country, won the coveted title of "Iron Chef." Distrito is known for, among other attractions, stocking more than 100 tequilas.

Village Whisky, also a Garces Group restaurant, closed its Atlantic City location and is now in Philadelphia. The restaurant says it features a variety of burgers and a "near-encyclopedic catalogue of chef Garces' favorite spirit, whiskey."

"There's no opening schedule yet," said Glidden. "Whole Foods — scheduled to open in November of 2016 — is likely to open before the other stores."

The mall was built in the 1950s and sank into disrepair over the years as the owners did little to update it. Edens acquired the shopping center in 2012 after its owners filed for bankruptcy.

Local officials are touting the mall renovation as a project that will help energize Closter's downtown and bring more traffic and tax ratables to the borough.

Charlie Osso, owner of Rudy's Pizzeria, which has been in Closter for more than 45 years, said business is steady even as the machines drill away outside. "We have seven stores still open at the mall right now. We don't notice much difference in the number of customers here. There's a lot of construction going on around us and they are moving fast. When it's done, this area will be something very nice."

Executives at Edens did not return calls seeking comment.

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