AMC Planning 12-Plex Theater at La Jolla Mall
Disclosing plans to build a 12-plex movie theater in the soon-to-be-remodeled La Jolla Village Square shopping center, the AMC movie theater chain says it is simply capitalizing on market demand.
But for some nearby residents, AMC might as well be the movie chain that ate La Jolla.
AMC executive Greg Rutkowsky said Monday that the chain will operate the theater complex after a $50-million renovation of the shopping center is completed by new owners Gordon/Beck Ventures, the Santa Monica development firm that closed escrow on the shopping center July 17.
Last week, Gordon/Beck Ventures met with University Community Planning Group, a citizens advisory committee, to discuss the renovation plan. In addition to AMC, Gordon/Beck said it is also negotiating with several potential retail chains, including Marshall’s; Bed, Baths & Beyond, and Smith’s Food and Drug. Renovations are scheduled to be complete by October, 1993.
Surrounding residents present at last week’s planning group meeting complained that the huge movie complex, which will seat 3,000 movie-goers, would significantly add to traffic congestion in the La Jolla Village Drive area, said planning group chairman Harry Mathis.
“Those present zeroed in on the 12-plex because it seemed so large to them,” Mathis said. “They keyed on that, asking ‘isn’t it out of scale?’ ”
Richard P. Janssen, the La Jolla Village Square project director for Gordon/Beck Ventures, said the developer would mitigate the traffic impacts by building an underground garage to accommodate 375 cars. Although the mall will be turned “inside out” with mall stores opening to the outside after the renovation, the theater complex will open onto the inside of the mall to ease crowd control.
The developer also said it would seek to add a third left turn lane on the northbound Nobel Drive exit off Interstate 5.
Janssen said no new theaters have been built in the La Jolla area for 10 years or more, despite population growth in the La Jolla-San Dieguito area. The five-screen theaters in La Jolla Village and University Towne Centre complexes are the only movie houses serving the local community.
AMC operates movie complexes in Fashion Valley, Santee and Encinitas. The chain has made it be known that the La Jolla-North County coastal market could support another couple of dozen movie screens, sources said Monday.
