Gung-Ho Investments has firmed up his plans for the Riverside Plaza project. If you didn't catch my previous post, Gung-Ho Investments purchased the Cinemark Century Riverside 12 theater complex.
You can catch a more in depth tour of the space here.
Here are Gung-Ho's plans as of today with the overarching plan that families will come to spend the day/evening enjoying multiple activities, under a single roof, in a single location, which includes a combination of: 2 restaurants and bars; a beer garden overlooking the Plaza; a café and juice bar; wine and cigar lounges; high-end retail stores for shopping that open to the River and inside hallways; a bowling alley; a large dinner and show theater with booths, tables and chairs for premium live entertainment (music, comedy, etc.); a smaller dine-in theater with booths, tables and chairs that primarily shows first-run movies; both theaters will also serve as event enters for uses like film festivals; and offices and/or co-working office space upstairs with windows and terraces that overlook the River. Finally, to be completed when the roof and HVAC must be replaced, and located on top of, not under one roof, will be a rooftop garden for drinking and dining while overlooking the River, Plaza, Park, and bridge.
Developer John Wade will convert the larger theater facing First Street into a “Dinner Theater” instead of a Dine-In Theater. There will be tables (not armrests) and booths and chairs instead of recliners. Dining service will be provided by the high-end restaurant operating in the current concession area. Think of it as a traditional supper club like those that still exist in Vegas and large cities where people dress up and go out for a luxurious evening; and they may even offer a valet service option for those who don’t want to walk across the street to/from the Parking Gallery. The smaller movie theater facing First Street will be converted into dine-in movie theater.
The small retail spaces fronting the river will be expanded backward into the south-facing theaters to create larger retail spaces, each with their own restroom facilities rather than having to share a detached restroom space not attached to any of the retail. The retail sections will use the existing long wide hallway that currently connects the theaters inside, and retain the external access as well. The beer garden will overlook West Street Plaza and be set at a high-enough elevation to provide sweeping river and park views.
The City informed him he can open the sections/activities one-at-a-time consecutively rather than all-at-once concurrently. As an example, since he already has restrooms and a grease trap interceptor, he thinks he can get the café/juice bar opened first within a few months; this would be where the front lobby and ticket area currently is, that connects to the Riverwalk....and then pace out the rest of the concepts. This way the building won't sit completely empty for extended amounts of time while permits and building plans are finalized for the other concepts.
Gung Ho estimates the total square footage to increase from 50,000 SF to about 90,000 SF when done. He will keep the beautiful high ceilings over the large restaurant that will open between the existing columns to North Sierra as single level, but the rest will be two-story plus there will be additional terrace SF along the south and west walls.
You can see in the original floor plan of the theater below, how the retail sections align perfectly with the theaters behind them, providing a huge opportunity to expand the retail sections backwards and make them far more usable than they are now. You can learn more by visiting Gung-Ho's web site at https://www.gungho.com/
