By Jennifer Edwards
Enquirer staff writer

ANDERSON TWP. - Plans for a large movie theater with stadium-style seats at the former Beechmont Mall are re-emerging.

Some businesses stay open as construction is underway at the Anderson Towne Center. (Melissa Heatherly photo)

A proposal fell through last year for a Showcase Cinemas at the soon-to-be redeveloped Anderson Towne Center.

But now, the township is working with movie groups to bring a 12- to 13-theater cinema to the shopping center, said township Trustee Russ Jackson Jr.

"Some new ideas have come forward that weren't on the table last fall," he said. "This is the possibility of actual land and an existing property owner there going in a different direction."

He declined to identify the property owner or movie companies.

But he did say the theater would not be located at the Kmart or the existing Kroger store sites across Beechmont Avenue from the mall.

Landing a movie theater at the mall has been a longtime township goal and popular with many residents.

Located on the northeast corner of Beechmont Avenue and Five Mile, the mall is being reworked into an open-air shopping center with a 1950s streetscape and landscaping.

When the mall opens in November, the Kroger store along Beechmont will close; a new one will open at the mall. At 104,000 square feet, it will be the world's largest Kroger store.

The Lazarus department store is being renovated and remains open. The project also includes a satellite office for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, restaurants and shops.

Developers want to upgrade the shopping center and to create a community focal point for Anderson's 43,857 residents.

Mary Ann Greenwald has lived in Anderson more than 30 years and watched the mall's prosperity come and go.

"It's taken so long and the one thing I would really like to see is a bookstore," she said. "We used to have two bookstores and now we have none."

Greenwald said she looks forward to shopping once again in her own community. "I resent having to go to Kenwood to have to do any real shopping, so I am very glad the mall is finally, finally getting off the ground."

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E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com