Redwood City cinema’s screens go dark
October 10, 2008
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| The final curtain: The Century Park 12, just east of the Whipple Avenue exit off U.S. Highway 101, showed its last movie Sunday. (Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt/Special to The Examiner) |
SAN MATEO COUNTY — The curtain has fallen on a cinema that screened many of the nation’s biggest blockbusters for the last 27 years, a move that will shift all the region’s moviegoers downtown and closer to local businesses.
The Century Park 12, just east of the Whipple Avenue exit off U.S. Highway 101, showed its last movie Sunday. It had shared blockbusters with the newer Century 20 Theater since it opened two years ago. The marketing plan by Cinemark, which owns both theaters, frustrated residents who had to travel between the two, which are about a mile apart, said city Redevelopment Manager Susan Moeller.
“[The closure] was a market decision,” Mayor Rosanne Foust said. “That says to me that the attendance wasn’t up there.”
The old theater had free parking and was closer to the freeway, but the other cinema is equipped with more seats and modern features, and is surrounded by shops and restaurants.
Moeller said the city expects 25 percent more foot traffic in front of the downtown theater on Broadway.
The city has not seen the type of financial boom it was expecting from the new theater, losing$1.25 million in anticipated parking revenues in 2007 when it overbudgeted for parking payments it expected from the new 4,600-seat cinema.
Before opening the theater, the city lost every adjacent business except Bob’s Courthouse Cafe, the owner of which sued Redwood City for loss of revenue resulting from the construction. Some retail locations surrounding the theater remained vacant through the end of last year.
David Irmer, who developed the newer theater for Cinemark, said management has already noticed a 35 percent increase in ticket sales since the older theater’s closure.
Downtown businesses are also ringing cash registers more often.
“It means more people walking in front of our venues,” said John Anagnostou, co-owner of the Fox Theater next door. “It’s about time.”
Cathy Oyster, who owns the Ice Cream and Candy Bar on Broadway next to the Century 20, said local shops received only half the foot traffic they expected when the new theater opened because Cinemark marketed half of its blockbusters at the older theater.
Moeller said the city is expecting an application from the owner of the older theater’s 14-acre property, the Syufu family, for a residential property consisting of several hundred units, although the land is only zoned for commercial use.
The owners asked the city whether car dealers would still be interested in developing an auto mall there, as discussed in previous years, but thus far the owners’ asking price has been too high for auto companies, Foust said.
It is unclear how many cinema employees will be offered jobs at other theaters, as representatives from the Plano, Texas-based company did not return calls seeking comment.
