The Business Journal has learned that Apple Cinemas may be in a position to open its new multiscreen movie theater location in the City Center in White Plains sometime next week. A source said that final details need to be settled and that the property owners and city both have been supportive of the efforts being made by the cinema company’s staff to ramp up for a possible opening next week.
Apple Cinemas signed a lease to take space in the City Center formerly occupied by National Amusements’ Showcase Cinemas. Showcase had a 15-screen movie theater operation but closed in October of last year. Apple Cinemas is not related to the computer company. It has 12 theaters in six states with more than 100 screens. The company was founded in 2010. It promotes itself as offering a wide range of films, from family entertainment to art house and foreign films.
The Business Journal had learned last Sept. 7 that Showcase Cinemas had failed to come to a lease renewal agreement for its space at the City Center. It is not known whether the lease signed by Apple differs substantially from what had been offered to Showcase by City Center’s owner, Kite Realty Group.
The 15-screen theater was a major attraction when it opened in on June 25, 2005, and had been a focal point in the city’s downtown ever since. It opened with approximately 3,200 seats but the seating capacity was reduced over time as the theater installed wider, more luxurious seating. An IMAX auditorium was added where movies could be seen on an almost wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor screen.
The Business Journal learned that Kite Realty Group, owner of the City Center, had negotiated with Showcase to purchase at least some of the theater furnishings and equipment to make it easier and faster for a new operator to open in the multiscreen complex.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach noted that seeing a movie on a large screen in a theater is different from watching a movie on your TV at home because in addition to the visual and audio experience, you avoid the interruptions that distract from following the plot. “When you go to a theater to see a film you’re totally engaged and focused on the film,” Roach said. “I’m very excited about it and I’m looking forward to cutting the ribbon and everybody enjoying the movies again.”
