Topics / ENTERTAINMENT : La Canada Flintridge to Get Eight-Screen Movie Complex

For the first time, La Canada Flintridge residents will be able to go to the movies without leaving the city.

An eight-screen cinema complex will be built near the intersection of the Foothill (210) and Glendale (2) freeways, thanks to an agreement reached last Thursday between United Artists Circuit Inc. and developer Gary Zentmyer.

Construction on the $5-million multiplex, which will seat 2,218 people, is scheduled to begin next month on the site of an old Chevrolet dealership in the 400 block of Verdugo Boulevard.

Demolition crews began clearing the site this week for the 30,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to open for the Christmas movie rush this year.

“This is the biggest commercial development in the city for 30 years,” Zentmyer said. In addition to the multiplex, the seven-acre project will include small fast-food restaurants, retailers and a Park-and-Ride lot.

“This project fills such a need (that) three different movie chains made offers,” Zentmyer said.

The City Council and Caltrans, which owns the land, approved the project last spring. Zentmyer has a 55-year lease on the land.

La Canada will use state transportation funds to help pay for the Park-and-Ride lot. The site will be served by RTD downtown express buses and possibly a Glendale shuttle bus.