Business & Tech

Dine-In Theater Coming to Villa Marina Marketplace

AMC Entertainment has signed a lease for a 34,318-square-foot restaurant-movie theater at the $25 million Villa Marina Marketplace redevelopment.

The film exhibitor AMC Entertainment has signed a lease for a 34,318-square-foot AMC Dine-In Theatre at the Villa Marina Marketplace, officials said Thursday, marking the second major leasing milestone for the $25 million development.

Chicago-based property manager and leasing agent Jones Lang LaSalle announced in May that the upscale Equinox Fitness Club had become the redevelopment's first new major tenant when it agreed to lease a 30,000-square-foot facility.

Jones Lang LaSalle executives said in a statement that the AMC Dine-In Theatre will combine restaurant food and cocktails with movie auditoriums that feature reserved seating and seat-side service. The dine-in theater is scheduled to open in late spring 2012.

"We are excited to bring the first AMC Dine-In Theatre to the Southern California area at Villa Marina Marketplace," Mark McDonald, an AMC executive vice president for global development, said in a statement. "Our success with this concept in other markets is indicative of our ability to take the dinner and a movie idea to the next level."

AMC is a filmhouse giant with 360 theaters and 5,128 screens across the United States and Canada. The company operates 24 of the 50 highest grossing theaters in the country, including the top three.

The redevelopment of the 419,000-square-foot Villa Marina Marketplace is scheduled to begin this fall with an expected completion in summer 2012. The remodeled center's design will combine a sense of the beach with upscale stores and restaurants, including Gelson's, Sports Chalet and Barnes & Noble.

Jones Lang LaSalle manages the largest third-party retail portfolio in the country, including more than 300 malls, strip centers and mixed-use centers. The international firm has a retail portfolio of 269 million square feet of property under management and leasing worldwide.


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