A 12-screen movie theater

– Miami Herald, December 7, 2010

In a move that signals confidence in Miami’s economic recovery — and potential for growth in the city’s urban core — the developer of the downtown Metropolitan Miami complex announced plans to add a high-end movie theater.

Plans call for the new theater at the Metropolitan Miami complex to open by late 2012 or early 2013. It will join a Whole Foods, set for completion in 2013, and the already-open Met 1 residential tower, Wells Fargo Center office tower and JW Marriott Marquis and Hotel Beaux Arts.

Adding a multiplex is the latest step in making the area a place where people want to live, work and play. That’s a dramatic change of scenery from 10 years ago, when fewer than 40,000 people lived downtown and there was a dearth of options compared to other cities with cosmopolitan credentials.

But the building boom added towering high-rise buildings with 23,000 units — and the bust made those units more affordable for young professionals who wanted to live near their jobs. Now, 70,000 people live downtown, and the Miami Downtown Development Authority expects another 10,000 to move in by 2014.

The theater, said DDA executive director Alyce Robertson, was a missing piece for those new residents.

“This is an amenity that adds to the ambience of a 24-7 residential, commercial and entertainment district,’” Robertson said.

MDM Development Group said Tuesday that it had finalized an agreement with luxury theater company Silverspot to open a 55,000-square-foot, 12-screen theater as the anchor for the planned Met Square entertainment complex. It will also include retail and restaurant space.

“This is a total game-changer for the market,’” said Lyle Stern, principal with Koniver Stern Group, the retail leasing representative of Metropolitan Miami. “It’s real urban living.”

The downtown Miami corridor has added thousands of residents and dozens of restaurants, shops and hotels over the past decade. But the broader downtown area hasn’t had a movie theater since the AMC at Omni International Mall closed in 1999 — and even that was more than a mile north of the proposed site near Biscayne Boulevard and Southeast Third Avenue.

For a night out at the movies, downtown residents have to drive to South Beach, Coconut Grove or South Miami.

Those are attorney Eric Bluestein’s options — though he finds himself watching movies at home more often than venturing out to a theater these days.

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Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who chairs the DDA, said downtown offers sports with the AmericanAirlines Arena and arts with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, but lacks what he called the “simple pleasures” of going to the movies.

“It makes it a whole community,” he said. “There’s no reason you have to leave.”

The closest movie option, Paragon Grove 13, reopened in June after going dark for renovations for eight months at Coconut Grove’s CocoWalk. Like the planned theater, that cinema sells wine and beer and allows patrons to reserve specific seats.

Silverspot, which has one other location, in Naples, boasts luxuries like large leather seats, hardwood floors and marble and glass finishes. Though pricing for Miami isn’t yet available, general admission for adults at the Naples location is $15.

MDM did not disclose projected development costs for the theater at the $1 billion Metropolitan Miami complex.

James Marsh, a media and entertainment analyst for Piper Jaffray, said chains worldwide have been experimenting with offering high-end moviegoing experiences. He said the concept hasn’t yet been proven, but it could be a smarter move than trying to compete with nearby megaplexes.

Movies in general have fared “remarkably well” during the economic recession, Marsh said, despite the abundance of entertainment options on home television screens and mobile devices.

For Bluestein, who also works downtown, the promise of having a grocery store and movie theater in his back yard is “like a dream come true.”

“It’ll definitely make life a lot easier,” he said. “Anytime you can avoid traffic down here, it lessens your stress.”

His prediction: “I’m going to become a downtown hermit.”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/07/1962662/high-end-movie-theater-in-the.html#ixzz17ZGwLEvC