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Movie theater a key part of plan for mall COLONIE -- The new owner of Colonie Center wants to begin construction this year on a movie theater where viewers can watch the latest blockbuster in relative luxury. There still will be popcorn and Junior Mints, but Feldman Mall Properties Inc. also envisions a restaurant and possibly a bar inside the new cineplex, which the company will build for a national theater chain to lease and operate. The Phoenix-based real estate investment trust, or REIT, closed late Tuesday on the $82.2 million deal to buy the mall from New York City-based Blackstone Group. The final price was lower than the $84 million initially offered for the property, located at Wolf Road and Central Avenue in Colonie. Larry Feldman, Feldman Mall Properties' chief executive, said Blackstone had built estimates for operating expenses into the sale price that turned out to be lower. The REIT raised $144 million in an initial public offering of stock in December. It owns three other malls: Harrisburg East Mall in central Pennsylvania; Foothills Mall in Tucson, Ariz.; and Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale, Ill. The company says it invests in underperforming properties to make them more successful. The 1.2 million-square-foot Colonie Center dates to 1966. It has about 120 stores, including anchors Macy's, Sears, Boscov's and Christmas Tree Shops. Feldman Mall Properties plans to spend $9 million on major renovations to Colonie Center, the bulk of which will go toward building the movie theater. Colonie Center is the only enclosed mall in the Capital Region without one. While nothing is certain, Larry Feldman said Wednesday he was looking around the country at movie theaters with restaurants as role models. Some theaters have limited table service while patrons watch a movie in a VIP balcony. But Feldman said he was considering a restaurant and bar located off the lobby of the theater itself. Patrons would then go to watch films in stadium-style seating with larger, more comfortable chairs. It's part of what Feldman called his plans to "Wal-Mart-proof" the mall by offering more and different entertainment options to compete with lower prices elsewhere. "The whole game plan is to drive traffic and excitement into the mall," he said. That's a sentiment frequently echoed by shopping mall developers, who are increasingly trying to position their properties as "lifestyle centers" -- more inviting places to spend time and money. At one of Feldman's other properties, the Harrisburg Mall, the "Wal-Mart-proof" strategy involved adding a 225,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops store. Feldman spent $20 million preparing a space for the giant sporting goods retailer and related attractions, such as waterfalls in the concourse. That expense was part of a $45 million upgrade at the Harrisburg property that is still under way. Feldman said the timeline for most major renovations is three years. Malachy Kavanagh, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York City-based trade group, said Feldman Mall Properties was too new a company to predict whether it will buy and renovate malls to quickly sell them, or whether it will remain a long-term property manager. All four of the company's mall properties, totaling more than 4 million square feet, were acquired in the last three years. As for Feldman's movie theater idea, Keith Thompson, who operates a small theater company in Knoxville, Tenn., said there are perhaps several hundred similar theaters around the country. Many variations on the theme exist, said Thompson, co-owner of Phoenix Theatres LLC, which operates six movie theaters and is building two more. He also is a consultant to shopping centers considering adding theaters; he once was vice president for real estate for Regal Cinemas Inc., the nation's largest theater chain. Regal is the dominant movie operator in the Capital Region. "If it's a fad, then I'm jumping on the bandwagon," Thompson said. His company is building a movie theater in Kansas City, Kan., that will have VIP balcony seating. Patrons will pay extra and get table service while they watch a film. "Dinner and a movie is the consummate form of entertainment in the United States," he said. "If you can combine that, those two separate acts in one location, it makes a lot of sense." |
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