Work Begins on 12-Screen Movie Palace : Camarillo: New, state-of-the-art Edwards complex will seat 3,000. Two other large cinemas are planned.

With a groundbreaking scheduled today, Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. will apparently be the first in a race among three movie theater chains to open a multiplex cinema in Camarillo.

Three cinema chains have won city approval to build theater complexes that will bring more than 30 screens and nearly 9,000 theater seats to the city. While all three have received permission to build, city officials said they believe only two of those will be constructed.

“I think what’s going to happen is that there will be a cineplex on the east side and one on the west side of the city,” City Manager Bill Little said. “I think that two will work. Three theaters--I’m not so sure.”

Edwards Theatres is one of Southern California’s largest theater chains and has only one other theater in the county, a seven-screen operation in Simi Valley.

The new theater will be a 3,000-seat, 12-screen, state-of-the-art complex on 10 acres of a planned business park south of the Ventura Freeway between Las Posas Road and Carmen Drive, company officials said in a statement.

The 56,000-square-foot facility will be called Camarillo Movie Palace and will feature high-tech sound and projection equipment, curved, wall-to-wall screens and seats with cup holders in the armrests. Along the 80-foot-long concession stand, patrons will be able to order popcorn with real butter topping, company officials said.

Construction on the Edwards theater moves the project ahead of a similar-sized United Artists cineplex to be located on the city’s east side near the intersection of Camino Ruiz and Adolfo Road. While the United Artists facility received final approval from the city in February, nearby residents have said the facility would create noise, traffic and crime problems.

The United Artists facility, approved by the city Feb. 13, will begin construction in the fall.

A Mann Theaters Corp. proposal to build a 12-screen, 2,700-seat cineplex gained city approval last fall for a location in a business park off Daily Drive, across the Ventura Freeway from the Edwards project.

Officials of Pardee Construction Inc., the firm that is building the proposed United Artists cineplex, and representatives of Mann Theaters Corp. could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The Edwards cineplex sailed through most of the city’s regulatory process except for a sharp debate by members of the Camarillo Airport Authority who voted to oppose the movie house because it is located close to the edge of the runway at Camarillo Airport.

Because of the authority’s objection, the City Council was forced to consider the proposal and voted to approve the project after a consultant’s report indicated the chances of a plane crashing into the complex were slight.

Mayor Ken Gose said he welcomed the new development but expressed concern, like Little, over whether the city could support three massive movie houses.

“I don’t see how we can support 30-plus screens in this city, but I’m sure that if their marketing studies didn’t show enough support, they wouldn’t be here,” Gose said. “Still, you can bet your boot they’ll be watching the Edwards project closely.”

Little said if the United Artists complex is developed after the Edwards project, the city could gain a countywide reputation as a place to see movies.

“These larger theaters are really regional attractions,” Little said. “People don’t seem to mind making a 70-mile round-trip if it means they have the selection and amenities they want. By contrast, that would never happen back East. There you have theaters that are truly dependent upon patrons from the local neighborhood.”

Edwards officials were also unavailable for comment, but they have said they expect to open the Camarillo location by Thanksgiving.