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Theater chain to buy closed mall cineplex

Regal Entertainment Group plans to take over the theater at the former ParkSide mall and keep it mostly unchanged.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 2, 2005

PINELLAS PARK - Regal Entertainment Group, the world's largest motion picture exhibitor, will buy the 16-screen cineplex at the former ParkSide mall.

The purchase marks Regal's return to Pinellas Park. The chain once owned the six-screen cinema that was located across from the mall's 70th Avenue N side. Regal closed there in January 2000 after it was announced the mall would open the 16-screen movieplex.

"We are excited about coming back into the market," said Dick Westerling, Regal's senior vice president of marketing. "We consider it a modern, productive facility that is part of our ongoing strategy to acquire productive assets at responsible prices."

Moviegoers should notice no major changes.

"At this time, it's our plan to go in and operate the theater as it is," Westerling said.

In fact, until the deal closes sometime in the second quarter of this year, R/C Theatres Management Corp. will continue to operate the facility, which is expected to reopen in April. The cineplex has been closed while ParkSide is razed and transformed into the Shoppes at Park Place.

"R/C will actually open the theater," Westerling said. "Once the transaction is complete, we will take over."

One definite change will be the implementation of the chain's nationwide Regal Crown Club. The club awards loyal theatergoers with credits toward free popcorn, drinks and movies.

Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said he spoke with R/C's president last month about a possible sale and had been sworn to secrecy. Mischler said Tuesday that he had mixed emotions about the sale.

"I was very happy with Wayne Anderson and R/C Theatres. They were upfront all the time," Mischler said. But "it's very exciting because here we have a major theater owner that's taking control of it."

Mischler said he did not think the theaters were sold because of poor performance. According to Mischler's information, the 16 screens had outpaced R/C's projections.

"Their attendance had exceeded their expectations tremendously," Mischler said. "They obviously did not sell it because they were losing money."

Dennis Daniels, R/C vice president and chief operations officer, confirmed that the sale had nothing to do with poor performance. Nor did it have anything to do with mall construction delays that put off the cineplex's reopening.

Negotiations were under way before mall renovations began, he said.

"It's just the right time to sell. This theater fits in well with Regal," Daniels said. "The theaters are very good theaters. (Regal is) in the acquisition mode."

The Pinellas Park cineplex is one of seven theaters that Regal plans to purchase from R/C. The others are in Pennsylvania, Virginia and R/C's home base of Maryland. The entire deal will cost $31-million in cash and add 76 screens to Regal's inventory.

The Knoxville-based Regal has a theater circuit comprised of Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres.

It has 6,273 screens in 558 locations in 40 states. It operates about 18 percent of all indoor screens in the United States, including locations in Bradenton, Sarasota and Ocala. Regal owns three locations in Tampa: Channelside, University 16 and Citrus 20.

The Pinellas Park movieplex will be Regal's only Pinellas County location.

The Movies at ParkSide, as the Pinellas Park cineplex was called until it closed for mall renovations, opened in April 2001 to great fanfare. It, and an ice-skating rink, were touted as saviors for the moribund mall.

The cineplex failed to attract shoppers, but it did attract moviegoers in great crowds, filling the southern parking area at nights and on weekends.

In the end, the cineplex was the only part of ParkSide that managed to last.

Mischler said he thinks the theaters will be even more successful when they reopen and the mall transformation is complete because of the new restaurants and popular stores (Target is a likely anchor) that plan to open there.

[Last modified March 2, 2005, 00:47:18]