Pact Nears for Downtown Ventura Theater Complex

By the end of the month, city officials expect to sign a binding agreement with a Burbank-based developer to build a multiscreen movie theater in downtown Ventura.

Construction of a 70,000-square-foot theater complex at Main and Palm streets could begin next summer if the agreement is approved by the Redevelopment Agency in coming weeks, city officials said.

“The theater proposal is coming along nicely and it looks like it will become a reality,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said Thursday. “I think it will be the best thing to happen to downtown Ventura in a long time.”

In February, city officials signed an exclusive negotiating agreement with developer Victor K. Georgino of Burbank, who has a commitment from the AMC theater chain for the project. Georgino said that city officials have been “extremely responsive” and that he expects a deal to be struck.

“We have something like nine months invested in it,” he said. “I am absolutely confident that it is going to fly.”

Opening a movie theater in downtown Ventura has been a major goal of city leaders, who have already invested millions of dollars in redevelopment money to lure visitors downtown.

A movie theater would establish a solid anchor to the newly renovated Main Street corridor, officials say, by spurring business and injecting night life into an area that some have described as rundown and blighted.

“A theater kind of plays a role as a catalyst for future development,” City Planner Pat Richardson said. “Just the sheer volume of people it will bring in would serve as a boost for the existing businesses down here.”

But the project has a catch: For the developer to build the theater, the city must construct a 527-car parking structure, which would cost about $4 million.

The multilevel structure would be built at Palm and Santa Clara streets, across from the proposed theater complex. The city has already set aside nearly $2 million. In June, the City Council budgeted another $60,000 a year for the next 12 to 14 years to help pay for the structure.

But council members sitting on the economic opportunity and revitalization committee expressed concern Thursday that the parking structure may not be big enough to accommodate the 4,000-seat complex.

“We may want a bigger parking structure, but the money we have doesn’t support that,” Councilman Greg Carson said.

The 16- to 20-screen movie theater is just one of several development projects being discussed for the 200 block of East Main Street.

The city is negotiating with Weirick Properties of Pasadena to build two retail shops on Main Street, and with Ventura Realty Co. to develop the historic Peirano building, which is across the street from San Buenaventura Mission.

On Thursday, council members directed city staff to get appraisals of two other properties: the Knights of Columbus meeting hall and Trueblood thrift shop.

The proposed AMC theater may get a run for its clientele before it even gets off the ground, however.

On Thursday, officials with Century Theatres in east Ventura submitted an application to add eight more movie screens to the Johnson Drive complex, which already has eight screens.

“Competition can be healthy,” Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures said. But she acknowledged that Ventura may not have the market for another movie complex.

In addition to the Century 8, Ventura has the Mann Buenaventura Theatres and the 101 Drive-In Theatres. The city plans to conduct a feasibility study on the subject.