Council Approves Deal for Downtown Theater Complex

Moviegoers would have a 10-screen theater in the heart of downtown Ventura within two years if plans for a multiplex on Main Street continue to move forward.

The City Council took its first major step toward that goal Monday night by unanimously approving a deal with a Burbank developer to build a movie theater and a 500-car parking garage downtown.

“I would like now to reserve a large box of popcorn,” Councilman Jim Friedman said before the 7-0 vote.

City leaders hope that a movie theater will spark redevelopment downtown by attracting upscale businesses, therefore increasing property values and boosting sales tax revenue.

Downtown merchants and business leaders have also praised the plan.

“The primary goal is to have the project move forward, and we are very pleased with how it is going,” said Tim O’Neil, president of the Downtown Ventura Assn.

O’Neil said the theater will attract businesses to the area and show private investors that the city is serious about renovating the downtown area.

“This is making a statement to the real estate market,” O’Neil said Tuesday. “The statement is that downtown Ventura is a vital and viable link to the future for our city.”

The contract approved by the council this week allows the city to acquire and raze four properties in the 500 block of Main Street.

Early designs show that the 1,807-seat movie theater would be in the middle of the block, surrounded by retail stores. A restaurant would be built at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets.

The agreement also allows the developer to sign an agreement with Century Theatres to operate the cinema.

“The lease will be signed with Century within the next two weeks,” developer Victor K. Georgino said after the council vote.

Movie theaters are considered a key to municipal redevelopment, transforming old blighted business districts into thriving new ones.

Multiscreen cinemas have helped jump-start redevelopment efforts in Santa Monica, Long Beach and Pasadena by attracting moviegoers who typically shop or eat at nearby stores and restaurants.

If Ventura’s construction schedule moves as quickly as city officials would like, nearly a block-long section of Main Street would be demolished starting in January. Construction would begin in April and the theater would open in spring 1998.

“People aren’t going to see buildings torn down or built for at least six months,” said Everett Millais, the city’s director of community services.

The movie complex would be operated by Century Theatres, which runs the Century 8 cinema in east Ventura off Johnson Drive.

The movie theater and parking structure are expected to cost the city $7.8 million.

About $2.8 million has already been budgeted for the parking structure, which officials want to erect on a city-owned parking lot on Santa Clara Street where a farmers’ market is held on Saturdays.

No additional money has been set aside for the theater, but officials have recommended extending an existing line of credit to the Redevelopment Agency to cover the city’s share of the project.

Georgino is expected to pay an additional $3.7 million for construction of the 1,807-seat theater and 14,000 square feet of adjacent retail space. He is also expected to oversee construction of the parking structure.

The city expects to recover its investment over 30 years via increased property tax payments on the more valuable downtown land. The retail portion of the project will also generate additional sales tax revenue.

The council’s action this week ends a yearlong struggle to lure a theater chain to downtown Ventura.

Negotiations with the American Multi-Cinema chain abruptly ended last September when the theater operator backed out of a deal to open an entertainment complex at Main and Palm streets.

AMC’s retreat came two weeks after Century Theatres submitted a request to build eight additional screens at its Johnson Drive multiplex. AMC officials said they were backing out because of the potential glut of movie screens in the area.

In addition to Century 8, Ventura has the Mann Buenaventura Theatres and the 101 Drive-In Theatres, which straddle the Ventura Freeway off Telephone Road.

Ventura’s downtown movie theater is the latest cinema project to be launched in Ventura County. The theater construction boom has brought at least 30 new screens to cities across the county in the past year.