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Theaters
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February 10, 2009
University of Michigan may make use of the Capitol Theatre
FLINT, MI — The University of Michigan-Flint is exploring utilizing the long closed Capitol Theatre for its music program. It may cost up to $40 million to renovate the theater and make it a community asset.
The C.S. Mott Foundation is paying for a $50,000 feasibility study. Additional details can be found in the Flint Journal
On a side note, the theater’s owner George Farah died Sunday, February 1 at age 73. The Flint Journal obit is here.
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February 9, 2009
Plaza Theater update
I would like to update the info on the Plaza Theater in Humboldt, TN. I, along with two good friends, purchased the theater in January of 2007.
We have remodeled it extensively. We have upgraded the sound and projectors in all three theaters as well as paint and carpet in the lobby and concessions area and paint and lettering on the marquee. It is a triplex. Theater #1 seats 135, Theater #2 seats 125 and Theater #3 seats 90. I’m sure when the theater was built and had just one screen it would seat approx 600. When the theater was transformed into a triplex, lots of seating was lost due to walls and such.
We show first run movies and focus mainly on family oriented films. The website for the theater is www.plazatheater.net
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February 4, 2009
Kew Gardens Cinemas adds sixth screen
KEW GARDENS, NY — It’s almost a year now that Kew Gardens Cinemas added another screen that replaced the dry cleaners located in the same building. It’s stadium seating with nice width and great sightlines. What a great theatre to visit for great films.
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February 3, 2009
Mayor meets with university students on efforts to salvage Astro
CLEMSON, SC — The city is evaluating the options to save the Astro III.
Clemson Mayor Larry Abernathy informed between 20-25 Clemson University students earlier this week that nothing new has occurred regarding efforts to purchase the vacant Carmike Cinema Astro Triple Theatre from the Mount Pleasant family which owns the building and property.
Abernathy did tell students he is still talking with a potential investor, and if the family agrees, the investor would purchase the theater, while the city would purchase the parking spaces at the College Avenue site.
Read more at Upstate Today.
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February 2, 2009
Bijou celebrates 100 years
KNOXVILLE, TN — A new marquee is up to celebrate the Bijou’s Centennial.
A blue vertical sign with 448 LED bulbs and sidewalk marquee was turned on just before 6 p.m. at the 803 S. Gay St. theater to celebrate the building’s first century.
The ceremony began four days of Bijou 100 Year Jubilee events and the culmination of the “Light Up the Bijou” campaign that raised money for the marquee and sign that gave the Bijou a look similar to one of its past. The Bijou for decades had a sign and marquee. The last marquee apparently was removed when the theater was saved from demolition in the 1970s.
Read more at the Knoxville News.
(Thanks to lumierefl for providing the photo.)
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January 30, 2009
Baltimore offers $320,000 to keep Senator open as a nonprofit
BALTIMORE, MD — The city of Baltimore is offering up money to keep the Senator Theatre going, but the owner will have to turn it into a nonprofit.
Not wanting to see the Senator Theatre closed on their watch, city officials are offering $320,000 to keep it open – provided the 70-year-old movie house is turned into a nonprofit business.
“The Senator Theatre is a Baltimore icon,” Deputy Baltimore Mayor Andrew Frank said yesterday. “It’s ingrained in the psychology of Baltimore. … Its closing would be felt in ways that would be manifest throughout the community.”
Read more in the Baltimore Sun.
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January 28, 2009
Redevelopment Association honors Alameda Theatre
ALAMEDA, CA — The Alameda Theatre has won an award from the California Redevelopment Association for the steps it took to reopen and put itself in a position to be successful.
In order to make the original single-screen theater economically feasible, the city approved plans that created the adjoining smaller screens and a contiguous parking structure. These new screens are the economic engine that drives the new theater complex, providing today’s moviegoers with the variety they expect in a movie theater experience. The 341-stall garage offers convenient parking not only for the theater, but for the nearby Park Street Business District.
The city contributed $21.7 million in tax increment bond proceeds and $1.7 million in parking revenues to a project that had a final tab of $36.4 million. A Housing and Urban Development Section 108 loan for $7.2 million and $5.8 million of private investments paid for the balance of the project.
Read the full story in the Alameda Sun.
(Thanks to celestialspirit13 for providing the photo.)
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January 27, 2009
Indie cinemas pack houses
Some local independent Boston-area theatres share their keys to success after a positive 2008.
But while big studio heads will have tears falling on the sleeves of their Armani suits, local independent movie exhibitors are quite happy with the way the year played out. They had more people lining up at their ticket booths, not less.
“We saw an increase in ticket sales,” says Ned Hinkle, creative director of the Brattle Theatre. “We’re waiting to crunch the numbers for the whole year, but we believe we saw a small increase in attendance, as opposed to other years where we’d seen a number of small decreases in attendance. Now we see an up tick.”
Read more in Wicked Local.
(Thanks to KingDafy for providing the photo.)
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January 22, 2009
More time to revive Westland theater site?
WESTLAND, MI — With a stalling in the development of a fitness center, could the Quo Vadis still have hope?
The City Council is set to approve on Tuesday a one-year extension on the site plan for a proposed fitness center that would replace the old Quo Vadis Theater, a project opposed by some residents.
Last March, the council granted a site plan approval for the proposed $5 million, 45,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art L.A. Fitness Center. Demolition was to take place on the theater in August, but it was not done.
Read the full story in the Detroit News.
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January 21, 2009
Senator Theatre future planning meeting
BALTIMORE, MD — Join us this Thursday, January 22nd at 10:30am for a communal call to action and express your support for The Senator remaining in operation as it transitions to become the region’s premiere, community owned non-profit Arts & Entertainment Venue. The mid to long-term prognosis for The Senator Theatre after its transition to non-profit ownership and operation appears promising, even in this economy.
The immediate short-term status of the theatre, however, has become very precarious. Like a nasty flu that sickens the healthy but can kill those who are already weak, the downturn in the economy has placed the operational status of The Senator, and its future, in great jeopardy.
To prevent a devastating shutdown, The Senator’s economic viability must be quickly addressed among all those who share a vested interest in the theatre maintaining its near 70 year unbroken chain of day to day operation.
More info at the Senator website.