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Topic: Loew's Theatre up for Auction
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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God
Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002
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posted 12-05-2002 05:36 PM
Streamwood theater put up for auction
By Rukmini Callimachi Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on December 03, 2002
Fourteen theater screens in Streamwood may fade to black this month as the Loews Cineplex Theatre, the only multiplex in the Tri-Villages, goes up for auction on Dec. 19.
The opening bid for the theater complex, in the Westview Shopping Center on Buttitta Road, is $2.2 million, said auctioneer Alan Kravets of Sheldon Good & Co.
The 8-year-old theater has been a disappointment to the New York-based Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp., especially since 1998, when the 30-screen AMC megaplex opened 5 miles away in South Barrington.
"Historically, the Loews corporation has closed buildings when they are under-performing," said Clair Malo, Loews' regional director for marketing and sales.
The sale of the Streamwood theaters follows a nationwide trend since 2001, when the Loews Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. More than 37 screens at seven multiplexes in the Chicago area have been shuttered since a year ago, including ones in Naperville, Oak Brook and Downers Grove.
Kravets, whose auction house is handling the sale, described the Streamwood theater as the "plain Jane" of suburban multiplexes.
"If you go into it, you know the difference," he said. "There's nothing wrong with the theater - but the high-tech nature of our world has made the movie consumer much more demanding."
The first decision that a Streamwood, Bartlett or Hanover Park moviegoer faces is whether a 5-mile drive to South Barrington is worth the stadium-style seating, the reclining love seats and a sound system, which makes the opening bar of "Star Wars" sound like the climax of the Indy 500.
Streamwood officials say they are not worried about the impending sale because the theater generates relatively little sales tax.
"As far as property taxes, we get about $30,000 per year. If the theater is shuttered, then the assessed valuation of the property could dip slightly - but don't expect that to happen," said village Finance Director Dave Richardson. "The sales tax from the theater is negligible. It's basically just the popcorn."
Movie tickets are not taxable, so sales tax is generated by concession stand sales only.
The village stands to gain if the theater is sold to a retail chain - which will keep property tax revenue constant, but increase the gain from sales tax, Richardson said.
"Obviously we'd like to see it continue as an operating business," said Acting Village Manager Gary O'Rourke. A change in ownership, he said, also could create more synergy with local businesses.
"If it is operating as a viable business - whether as a theater or otherwise - it can also have an indirect impact on the rest of the community. Someone who stops in to see a movie, might drop by Wal-Mart, or go to dinner at a local restaurant afterwards," he said.
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Daily Herald Article
www.dailyherald.com
Copyright © Daily Herald,
Paddock Publications, Inc.
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