East Anchorage Intelligencer: Century 12
More options for Anchorage movie buffs
Construction crews are working feverishly to finish building phase one of the Glenn Square Mall. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Plans are in the works to add another dozen screens to the Anchorage area. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
David Irwin, one of the developers of the Glenn Square Mall. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Cinemark Theaters owns Century Theaters, which has owned and operated the 16 screen Midtown movie center since 1999. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Hal Sawyer with Cinemark Theatres (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
by Steve MacDonald
Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Movie fans rejoice, plans are in the works to add another dozen screens to the Anchorage area as part of the latest development for Glenn Square retail mall in Mountain View.
Glenn Square is a project designed to revitalize a part of Anchorage that's long been neglected. On Thursday, developers announced another national chain is coming to the mall, which should add more steam to Mountain View's makeover.
Construction crews are working feverishly to finish building phase one of the mall.
Meanwhile, developers of the Mountain View retail center are ready to start phase two.
"We're very excited about the announcement we have today ... our deal with Cinemark theaters," said David Irwin, one of the developers of the Glenn Square Mall.
Another new national chain is ready to join the handful of stores that are nearly ready to open.
Cinemark Theaters owns Century Theaters, which has owned and operated the 16 screen Midtown movie center since 1999.
Hal Sawyer with Cinemark Theatres said the theatre should prosper.
"We've always looked for another location in the Anchorage area," said Sawyer. "We think that it's a little underserved and we feel we can add something to the community up here in the Mountain View area."
Glenn Square developer Dave Irwin said getting the national chains are important.
"Really, the key is bringing in the national anchors, the big draw," Irwin said.
He said bringing in a theater chain adds a new component to the mix.
"More of an entertainment component, more nighttime traffic, which also brings in restaurants as potential tenants," Irwin said.
In order to land the theater, developers had to address concerns of Mountain View residents. Among those was the location and size of the proposed movie-plex.
"The community was very concerned about the massing and the size of the theater and it being so close to the street like that. So we brought it down the hill and got Cinemark to size the theater down a little bit," Irwin said.
So instead of 16 screens like the midtown theater, the Glenn Square edition will have 12. Mayor Mark Begich said that is more than enough to help revitalize this corner of Mountain View.
"Already this development around us is between $50 million and $60 million by the private sector. This will add about another $12 million of investment to the community and to this land," said Begich, D-Anchorage.
The land is ready to enter a new phase.
Cinemark said it plans to do some site work on the theater this fall, with construction getting underway next spring.
It plans to have the theater ready to open by next fall.
As for the rest of the mall, stores like Michaels, Famous Footwear and Old Navy plan to open before this Thanksgiving to take advantage of the upcoming Christmas holiday shopping season.
Irwin said at first it was difficult to convince the national stores to invest in the mall. He said the distance between Alaska and the Lower 48 concerned many companies that worried about shipping goods to their stores and other logistics.
Irwin said if they can convince retailers to visit here, they can see that the economy is strong and that the Alaskans are hearty consumers. Once they see that, it's a much easier sell.
In the case of Cinemark and Century Theaters, they were already looking to expand in Anchorage and Glenn Square made perfect sense to them.
Construction crews are working feverishly to finish building phase one of the Glenn Square Mall. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Plans are in the works to add another dozen screens to the Anchorage area. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
David Irwin, one of the developers of the Glenn Square Mall. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Cinemark Theaters owns Century Theaters, which has owned and operated the 16 screen Midtown movie center since 1999. (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
Hal Sawyer with Cinemark Theatres (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)
by Steve MacDonald
Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Movie fans rejoice, plans are in the works to add another dozen screens to the Anchorage area as part of the latest development for Glenn Square retail mall in Mountain View.
Glenn Square is a project designed to revitalize a part of Anchorage that's long been neglected. On Thursday, developers announced another national chain is coming to the mall, which should add more steam to Mountain View's makeover.
Construction crews are working feverishly to finish building phase one of the mall.
Meanwhile, developers of the Mountain View retail center are ready to start phase two.
"We're very excited about the announcement we have today ... our deal with Cinemark theaters," said David Irwin, one of the developers of the Glenn Square Mall.
Another new national chain is ready to join the handful of stores that are nearly ready to open.
Cinemark Theaters owns Century Theaters, which has owned and operated the 16 screen Midtown movie center since 1999.
Hal Sawyer with Cinemark Theatres said the theatre should prosper.
"We've always looked for another location in the Anchorage area," said Sawyer. "We think that it's a little underserved and we feel we can add something to the community up here in the Mountain View area."
Glenn Square developer Dave Irwin said getting the national chains are important.
"Really, the key is bringing in the national anchors, the big draw," Irwin said.
He said bringing in a theater chain adds a new component to the mix.
"More of an entertainment component, more nighttime traffic, which also brings in restaurants as potential tenants," Irwin said.
In order to land the theater, developers had to address concerns of Mountain View residents. Among those was the location and size of the proposed movie-plex.
"The community was very concerned about the massing and the size of the theater and it being so close to the street like that. So we brought it down the hill and got Cinemark to size the theater down a little bit," Irwin said.
So instead of 16 screens like the midtown theater, the Glenn Square edition will have 12. Mayor Mark Begich said that is more than enough to help revitalize this corner of Mountain View.
"Already this development around us is between $50 million and $60 million by the private sector. This will add about another $12 million of investment to the community and to this land," said Begich, D-Anchorage.
The land is ready to enter a new phase.
Cinemark said it plans to do some site work on the theater this fall, with construction getting underway next spring.
It plans to have the theater ready to open by next fall.
As for the rest of the mall, stores like Michaels, Famous Footwear and Old Navy plan to open before this Thanksgiving to take advantage of the upcoming Christmas holiday shopping season.
Irwin said at first it was difficult to convince the national stores to invest in the mall. He said the distance between Alaska and the Lower 48 concerned many companies that worried about shipping goods to their stores and other logistics.
Irwin said if they can convince retailers to visit here, they can see that the economy is strong and that the Alaskans are hearty consumers. Once they see that, it's a much easier sell.
In the case of Cinemark and Century Theaters, they were already looking to expand in Anchorage and Glenn Square made perfect sense to them.