MORGAN HILL
– The city’s movie theater complex will close Sept. 1 with plans
to reopen at Christmas time as a state-of-the-art cinema with eight
screens and a new operator: CineLux Theaters.
MORGAN HILL – The city’s movie theater complex will close Sept. 1 with plans to reopen at Christmas time as a state-of-the-art cinema with eight screens and a new operator: CineLux Theaters.
“This theater is going to be like going to Hollywood,” said Howard Taormino, vice president of business development for CineLux Theaters. “People can expect to see lots of neon and grandeur. It will be like stepping back into the old days. It will be very art deco.”
CineLux, which acquired the rights to the space currently filled by Cinema Six in the Tennant Station shopping center, plans to install stadium-style seating featuring rocker/love seats, digital surround-sound and a lobby cafe.
“This is our first phase,” Taormino said of the company’s plans to expand to eight screens and upgrade the facility. “Our second phase will expand to 11 screens within another year.”
The first phase’s remodeling schedule is aggressive, Taormino acknowledged.
“It’ll be close,” he said of the planned holiday season reopening. Taormino declined to disclose CineLux’s renovation budget.
City officials hope the revamped theater and other planned changes to the shopping center will spark a revitalization.
“With a new Safeway and the theaters, I think a lot of retailers will look at the center differently,” said Garrett Toy, city director of business assistance and housing services.
Safeway is scheduled to begin construction on a new grocery store and gas station at Tennant Station sometime this year, Toy said. The new grocery store will fill the space between the theater and JoAnn Fabrics.
Taormino said CineLux will offer current Hollywood films as well as art films in a cinema featuring upscale decor.
“It will be very glitzy. I think the best word for it is ‘opulent,’ ” Taormino said. “It will be something people will love coming to.”
Taormino said the theater will offer many of the amenities movie buffs expect from large multiple-screen cinemas in San Jose and points further north, including moveable armrests allowing love-seat style seating, top-your-own popcorn concession bars and an expanded menu including pastries and coffee.
Toy hopes those amenities will entice movie lovers to stay in Morgan Hill to screen films, rather than driving to San Jose or Gilroy – thus sending their sales tax dollars to Morgan Hill’s coffers.
“From a consumer point of view, it gives us a nice theater to go to,” Toy said. “Sales tax revenues that theaters generate are from concessions and are relatively minor. What it does is bring a lot more traffic into the center.”
The visitors the theater draws might spend a few dollars at neighboring stores in Tennant Station, generating further sales tax dollars, Toy said.
“It’s kind of that multiplier effect,” he said.
Taormino agreed.
“With this new theater, there will be no reason to leave town,” he said, adding that local restaurants and retailers will benefit if moviegoers stay in Morgan Hill. “You won’t have to trek to Gilroy.”
CineLux specializes in neighborhood theaters catering to families, Taormino said, something he believes Morgan Hill lacks.
One example of the company’s family focus, Taormino said, is its plan to offer a summer reading program using free movie passes as incentives for children to read during the long school break.
“Morgan Hill is a market that’s very fertile,” he said. “The center and the location afford us the opportunity to develop a motion picture theater the community desperately needs.”
CineLux has no involvement with the Granada Theater in downtown Morgan Hill, Taormino said, and no plans to expand further into South Valley.
Peachtree Cinemas, which operates Cinema 6 and the Granada Theater, did not return repeated telephone calls for comment on this report.
CineLux operates several other theaters in the Bay Area, including CineLux Plaza 4 Theater in Campbell, CineLux Almaden Cinema, CineLux Chabot Cinema in Castro Valley, New Delta Cinema in Brentwood and Cinema Saver 10 in Milpitas.
“(The Morgan Hill) location will be the flagship of our circuit,” Taormino said.
Details: www.cineluxtheaters.com
