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Topic: Bournemouth Imax to re-open!
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Ben Wales
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 602
From: Southampton. England
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 06-18-2006 05:32 PM
The ongoing saga at the closed Bournemouth Imax has a further twist in the story that would make a story for a film.
The Former operators Sheridan have proposed to reopen the Imax this summer, this is dispite the dispute with the Landlords with the closure of the Imax since February 2005.
This is the report from the Irish Sunday Times today:
Sheridan Group to re-open 'ugly' Imax theatre
Carissa Casey
THE building voted the second ugliest in Britain could soon be open for business again, after discussions between a Northern Ireland-based property group and the pension fund that owns the lease.
The Imax theatre on Bournemouth’s beach-front was paid for by the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee, which operates the pension scheme for local government workers in the province.
Developed by the Sheridan Group, it was designed to provide Bournemouth with an all-weather tourist attraction similar to Sheridan’s Odyssey Arena in Belfast.
The building has been dogged by controversy since construction began in 1999. Locals were horrified at the size and design of the building, which obliterates what was previously an uninterrupted view of the seafront. Once it opened other problems materialised, including 100 degree temperatures inside its glass atrium on sunny days.
Operated by Sheridan, the Imax theatre was expected to become a huge tourist attraction but it cut back its opening hours in the winter, then last year it shut entirely.
Business has dwindled at the handful of food outlets in the building, including one owned by Eddie Fung, the Belfast restaurateur.
The final ignominy came when the building was voted the second ugliest in Britain in a poll organised by Demolition, a Channel 4 programme. The only building more hideous was the town shopping centre in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire.
Kevin McCloud, Demolition’s presenter, described the cinema as a 3-D disaster.
“Its anonymous backside is the first thing you see when you arrive in the town. The Imax is mooning the people of Bournemouth,” he said.
Local politicians, tourism chiefs, residents groups and business organisations have lobbied furiously for the building to be redeveloped or demolished.
Tobias Ellwood, the Bournemouth East MP, has christened it a carbuncle and wants it to be turned into an indoor swimming pool or an ice rink.
Richard Smith, the leader of Bournemouth borough council, has accused the pension fund, as leaseholder, of ducking its responsibilities and ignoring the public outcry.
However, the pension fund claims it is powerless to do anything until a legal dispute with the Sheridan Group is resolved.
The pension fund is suing the Belfast firm for failing to operate the Imax cinema and for late payment of rent. A court case was set for June 5 but was adjourned until August. Since then the property development company has submitted a proposal to re-open the cinema.
The pension fund recently handed responsibility for management of its investment portfolio to LaSalle Investment Management. Andrew Bull, a director at LaSalle, confirmed that a proposal had been received from Sheridan and that it was with the company’s lawyers.
“To be honest they don’t need our permission to re-open. They could just go ahead and do it,” said Bull, who promised that his company was making improvements to the building, including rectifying the problems with overheating.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If we had a functioning attraction that was bringing people to the town, I think local people would start to feel differently about the building,” he said.
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