Saturday, January 15, 2000
14-screen theater set for Wilder
Multiplex could open in Nov.
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WILDER — A theater company disclosed plans Friday to build a multiplex cinema at the Town & Country Soccer Complex at Ky. 9 and Interstate 275 that could open as soon as November.
Alliance Entertainment, based in New Albany, Ind., wants to build a 14-screen theater for first-run films to be known as Great Escape 14.
It is the second time an entertainment company has announced plans for a multiscreen cinema at the location.
In December of 1998, Re gal Cinema announced plans for a 20-screen multiplex there, but it never got off the drawing board.
“This is the same site as where Regal had planned to build,” Alliance Entertainment Vice President John Miller said Friday. “We feel this size theater (14 screens) is suitable for the market, and the location has good access from all directions.”
Wilder City Administrator Terry Vance said Alliance presented the city with a site plan that will be reviewed and voted on by the city's planning and zoning committee Jan. 24.
“If the plan were to be approved at that meeting, (Alliance) could break ground in February,” he said. “They have talked about opening in mid-November, which I think might be a little aggressive but it's possible.”
Mr. Vance said he had already completed a staff report on the plan.
“I'm very positive about it, because it's a new business for the city. I think it will be approved by planning and zoning. There are some issues, like sharing parking with the sports complex and the need for public sidewalks that aren't shown on the current plans, but I'm sure those will be included.”
Mr. Miller said Alliance, which built its first theater just two years ago, was working with John Toebben of Fort Wright, the developer who built the soccer complex.
Covering more than 40,000 square feet, the 14-screen theater will feature 2,500 seats total, with high-backed chairs positioned on risers to give every customer a clear view of the screens.
Mr. Miller said one special feature of the theater will be a two-
level game room, which will have 75 to 100 of the latest video games, as well as a large preview screen showing trailers for upcoming feature films.
The new theater will apparently be open for business ahead of a 21-screen facility planned for the Newport on the Levee entertainment complex next to the Oceanic Adventures Newport Aquarium.
Steiner and Associates, the Columbus-based development company that built the aquarium and is developing Newport on the Levee, has indicated a multiscreen theater will be one of the anchors of the entertainment complex, along with a 3-D IMAX theater, a Sega GameWorks, restaurants and shops, and a 2,000-car parking garage that is under construction. Steiner has not identified the company that would build the theater.
Mr. Miller said he did not feel the Newport on the Levee theater, tentatively scheduled to open in 2001, would have an adverse effect on business at the Wilder complex.
“We're far enough south (about 6 miles) of Newport, and on I-275, so I don't see any problems,” he said. “I don't feel we will really be in competition with Newport.”
Mr. Vance, however, said he had some reservations about “supporting 35 (movie) screens where we have none now. From the city's standpoint, we are always concerned about businesses being successful. We want to see new businesses succeed and be an asset to the city.”
The Alliance theater complex would be the first major competition for Showcase Cinemas, operated by National Amusements, the theater chain that rings Greater Cincinnati. Showcase operates one theater in Erlanger and an 18-screen complex in Springdale, which was the first to offer stadium-style seating.
King should be martyr, clergy say
Martin Luther King Day events
The forgotten children are our future, too
Law would ID criminal teachers
Dog day care fetches clients
FWW costs mount to $300.8M
UC to build better mouse
Inmates study ideas of peace, harmony
New radios putting each part of county on same network
XU moves graduation to Firstar
Butler Co. now billing inmates
Case dismissed against TV host
Complaint filed against Leis rival
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Road departments replenish salt supplies
Search continues for sex-assault suspect
Taft plan seeks funding for roads in city limits
GET TO IT
Lopez-Cobos marks 500th with concert 'Lohengrin'
14-screen theater set for Wilder
2nd suit remains vs. steel company
Buttermilk Pike to be widened
Lakota evaluates its policy on gifted
Lebanon choosing treasurer
Man wanted in connection with fatal fight
N.Ky. could have urban opportunity zone
New school stays empty
Norwood has deal with ex-chief
Ohio to fight ruling letting minor-party tags on ballot
Program a hoot for all ages
Project a model for road levies
TRISTATE DIGEST
Twister damage hits $70 million in three counties
