Edwards Will Build 22-Screen Complex at Huntington Mall
Edwards Theatres Circuit said Tuesday that it will build a 22-screen, 5,000-seat cinema complex at Huntington Center as part of a make-over of the struggling mall to focus on entertainment and restaurants.
At 92,000 square feet, the complex will be one of the largest built by Newport Beach-based Edwards, which now operates 85 cinemas with more than 500 screens. Edwards, Orange County’s dominant movie theater chain, is probably best known for a 158,000-square-foot, 21-screen complex at Irvine Spectrum that includes a giant-screen Imax theater.
The 30-year-old Huntington Center Mall, one of the first covered malls in California, has been struggling for years. The Edwards complex will be built in space once occupied by a Broadway department store that closed last year, one of several major retailers to depart from the mall.
David Biggs, Huntington Beach’s director of economic development, said the theaters will generate perhaps $50,000 in annual sales tax for the city, compared with more than $200,000 by the Broadway. He said, though, that mall owner Macerich Co. is expected to announce other retailing and restaurant additions soon.
“It’s the first step for the mall being repositioned as a genuine regional attraction,” he said of the cinema complex. “It’s not a department store, but it’s still an anchor that will attract people.”
The complex continues a growth spurt that has doubled Edwards’ revenue over the last five years to an expected $200 million-plus this year. Indeed, the major competition for moviegoers at the Huntington Beach location will be other nearby Edwards cinemas, including three smaller complexes in Huntington Beach, a six-theater complex in Stanton and a 10-plex in Westminster. Edwards President W. James Edwards III said the ample parking, high visibility from the San Diego Freeway and 1.7 million generally affluent residents within 10 miles make Huntington Center Mall unusually attractive as a site.
The company projects that it will sell 2 million to 3 million tickets a year at the theaters, which translates into at least 5,500 people a day walking through the mall. That should be a big lure to other potential tenants, said Macerich’s chief financial officer, Thomas O’Hern.
The mall was acquired from a group of pension funds last year by Macerich, a Santa Monica real estate investment trust with interests in 23 regional malls, 13 of them in California.
Macerich Chief Executive Arthur Coppola said the movie complex will add momentum to a leisure-oriented transformation at the mall site, which already includes a Barnes & Noble book superstore and a Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
Biggs said the entire mall probably will be redesigned to make it more inviting to shoppers. Removing the roof is one option, he and Edwards said. Macerich’s O’Hern said a final decision has yet to be made.
Edwards said the theater complex will probably include a main concession stand, smaller satellite stands and a center-lobby kiosk with fancy coffees, bulk candies and other specialty foods.
Other mall tenants include Montgomery Ward, Mervyn’s, Burlington Coat Factory, Circuit City and Staples.
