I posted this a while back as a rumor, but now it really appears Cinemark Century Riverside 12 will have a new owner and new plans.
Owned by an out-of-state Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) named Alpine Income Property Trust, you can see on this map, the Reno Cinemark Century property, which they purchased in 2016, is sort of an outlier property for a company that does most of their investment in the eastern and midwestern parts of the state. Aside from a Walgreens in Tacoma Washington and an O’Reilly auto parts store in Angels Camp, California, it’s one of the only properties they own in the western states.
They sold (in escrow currently) to a local developer, Gung-Ho. Gung-Ho Investments redeveloped 560 Mill Street into a stunning office project, and also renovated 295 Holcomb, previously cursed with faux Tudor-style facades and was a mess of a building, into a sleek modern loft-design office space with local architect Todd Copenhaver. The movie theater is already listed on their site as a project in the planning stages.
The thought of a vacant, shuttered 50,000 sf building on the Riverwalk in the heart of downtown is actually quite terrifying from an activation and redevelopment perspective. The Cinemark Century was once one of the most profitable theaters in their entire chain per capita, but as new more modern theaters such as Galaxy Legends were built, the allure of catching a movie downtown on the river faded a bit.
Gung-Ho's John Wade, who has six subsidiaries including Gung-Ho Investments, Gung-Ho Hospitality and the Gung-Ho Hive, took Barber Brief’s Alicia Barber and myself on a tour, showcasing his plans.
So what is the fate of the movie theater? John Wade said "I think there is definitely great value to the community and visitors of “The Riverside Plaza” to have a dine-in movie theatre to enjoy, and acquiring good, quality content people want to watch in a relaxing dine-in theatre environment is a must to make it an enjoyable experience for them."
Let's take a look at the overall plans being developed. These plans of course, are in the early stages, and subject to change.
On the north side of the property which fronts First Street, the plan would be to open up the property to First Street more so than it already is, and include family-oriented concepts such as interactivity for kids, a Sensology-style experience the whole family could enjoy.
One of his asks from the City would be to assist in making West Street Plaza more of a year-round experience, with heated bench seats similar to the Lot in Bend Oregon.
On the west side of the property facing West Street Plaza, he envisions an elevated stage for musicians to play to an audience enjoying West Street Plaza, with year-round programming.
On the southwest corner of the property, Gung-Ho is planning an elevated beer garden that opens up to the patio, with sweeping views of the Riverwalk and Truckee River.
Gung-Ho's plans include the decommissioning of all but two of the existing movie theaters, and keep at least two theaters for a dine-in experience if there is a market for it and Wade can find a reliable theater operator, and those two remaining would be north-facing theaters.
The plan for the south side of the buildings and former theater spaces would be to extend the small, narrow retail spaces inward to where the theaters formerly stood, significantly increasing the size of each retail space, and then connecting that space internally with the existing long hallway that is used to access the movie theaters, and instead almost make that a mall of sorts, with access to the newly expanded retail spaces from both the inside and outside.
Gung-Ho would extend the mezzanine level and create co-working spaces.
The plan for the main entrance to the current Cinemark Century Riverside 12 would be to build a coffee bar with outdoor seating and would comprise the current ticketing area.
The east side of the current theater lobby would become the restaurant that would serve food in the two remaining theaters, while people watch movies, similar to the Alamo Drafthouse concept (which was recently purchased by Sony Pictures). People could choose to dine in the restaurant prior to their movie, or dine in the theaters during their movie.
The long interior hall currently serving as access to the 12 screens would still be a main pedestrian route, serving the two remaining theaters as well as all the expanded retail spaces to the south facing the Riverwalk and the new family concepts which would also have access on First Street as well as internally through this hallway.
So that's the plan. It's ambitious, but I'll take anything over a shuttered 50,000 sf building downtown.
This project would be an ideal candidate for assistance from the Redevelopment Agency. If there was ever a project that would qualify for assistance, this would be it.