Cinerama Dome to Add Theaters, Stores and Gym

The Cinerama Dome, one of Hollywood’s most identifiable landmarks, will become the centerpiece of a huge trilevel entertainment and retail center that “will be a showstopper on Sunset,” a Pacific Theatres vice president said Wednesday.

Groundbreaking for the “Cinerama Dome Entertainment Center” is scheduled for spring 1998, with the opening planned for late 1999. The 245,000-square-foot center will sit on 5.75 acres bounded by Sunset Boulevard, Vine Street, and Ivar and De Longpre avenues. It will have 63,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; a 55,000-square-foot health club; 26,500 square feet of office space; 15 additional movie theaters; and a renovated Cinerama Dome.

“We’re extending the billboard tradition of Sunset Boulevard and blending it with the energy of Times Square to create a destination that will be as exciting for Angelenos as for the millions of visitors who come to Hollywood each year,” said Neil Haltrecht, vice president of Pacific Theatres Realty Corp.

The Cinerama Dome, which opened in November 1963, is the only geodesic dome in the world built entirely of concrete, Haltrecht said.