Kerasotes Drops Wilson Yard Plans; Seeks to Buy Instead
posted by
Broan
on
March 7, 2006 at 4:54 am
CHICAGO, IL — Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Kerasotes has dropped long-standing plans to build a multiplex atop a Target store in the large development now underway at Wilson Yard in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.
It does plan on entering the Chicago Market through suburban multiplexes and seeks to acquire the City North 14 and Webster Place theaters, which are being sold by AMC as a result of their merger with Loews.
Comments (5)
Great. It’s good to see that Webster will live.
They should clean Webster up quite nicely. That’s a shame about the Wilson Yards though, that area really needs just a decent clean theater.
I have fond memories of Webster. I’m glad to see that it won’t be turned into a Best Buy. I don’t understand why they are dumping the City North. It is only a few years old, which means it should have stadium seating and all the amenities needed for success. It’s also relatively close to Webster. What presence will the combined company have on the North Side (aside from the Esquire Near North) after these cinemas close? Are they abandoning that market as unprofitable?
AMC will, of course, still have the River East.
Kerasotes is still in a deal to build a 14-screen multiplex on the second floor of a retail complex at Wells & Roosevelt in the South Loop.
Not much happening at Wilson Yards these days. Everyone got evicted from their stores, they started digging up the property, then the cinema deal fell through. I would bet this Big Box legislation is making Target think twice about the project as well. There are still a few pieces of equiptment out there, but they don’t move.