GLENDALE : Cinema Zone Idea Draws City’s Interest

The Glendale City Council asked for more information from city staff this week about a proposed cinema zone that would allow movie theaters to be located only along the Brand Boulevard corridor.

City Manager David Ramsay said the council will receive a report at its July 19 meeting on a proposed moratorium on cinemas and the results of a survey of cinema owners conducted to gauge their interest in the zone.

Ramsay said the city is interested in designating a cinema zone to revitalize the city’s downtown area.

“Often cities have found theaters to be a catalyst to facilitate a lot of good things happening,” Ramsay said.

The cinema zone concept emerged from discussions between the Redevelopment Agency and city consultants about how to create a “24-hour downtown” in Glendale, said Jeanne Armstrong, director of redevelopment.

In a move to draw more people into the downtown area, the city’s economic adviser, Keyser Marston Associates Inc., recommended that officials modify zoning requirements to allow movie complexes only along Brand Boulevard.

Although Glendale currently has two theater complexes and a total of 12 screens, they are not close together, eliminating the “critical mass” needed to draw patrons to the area, Keyser Marston representative Dick Botti wrote in a letter to the agency. Multi-screen cinemas can help revitalize sagging retail centers, Botti said, citing Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade and Pasadena’s Old Town, two thriving areas that were “virtually devoid of any retail activity” until theaters opened.

Patronage at restaurants in Burbank jumped 25% after an AMC theater was expanded from 10 to 14 screens, according to Keyser Marston figures.

Although council members approve of the cinema zone concept, they questioned the Krikorian cinema proposed for the third floor of the former Robinson’s department store. The theater would be on Wilson Avenue, about three blocks from Brand Boulevard.

Ramsay said his report to the council will include an update on the Krikorian proposal.