Cinema to Open By Early 2006

By Tim Rausch, The Lima News, Ohio, The Lima News, Ohio

Dec. 23–LIMA — February is the latest estimate for the opening of a 12-screen theater next to the American Mall. Richard Grover, a marketing manager for Regal Entertainment Group, said the Lima complex will open sometime in the first three months of 2006. Chris Garlock, manager of the American Mall, said the work crews are far enough along that they should be done in January, estimating February as when the theater would be ready for movie-goers. The original schedule had the theater ready by November, but weather and materials delivery caused delays, Garlock said. “It is coming along very well. Now that they’ve got everything poured, they don’t have any seats in it yet, but you can see the row and how big the room is,” Garlock said. Land preparation for the $4.7 million theater began in late 2004. The permit to construct it was issued in May. Garlock said workers will be on the job through the holidays, except for Christmas Day. The theater will feature stadium-style seating for 2,000 people, retractable cup holders that move out of the way to form love seats, a computerized box office and automated ticket purchasing kiosks. Stadium seating movieplexes have been around for a decade, but this will be the first one in Lima. They are the standards in new movie theater construction, Grover said, and the number of screens is tailored to the market. Grover said he did not know what would become of Regal’s other two theater sites in Lima, on Cable Road and Elida Road, once the new complex opens.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Lima News, Ohio

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