Cinemagic Stadium Theaters will renovate and reopen the movie theater in South Portland at Clark’s Pond previously occupied by a Regal cinema.
“We are taking over the Clark’s Pond Cinema, and we are renovating and modernizing, with digital projection, digital sound and a full service cafa,” Bill Collins, marketing director for Zyacorp Entertainment, which owns Cinemagic, said Tuesday.
Although there are two other Cinemagic theaters nearby, in Westbrook and Saco, and plans for an IMAX theater in the works, Collins said that he believes there is enough patronage to make the cinema at Clark’s Pond worthwhile.
“There was a certain clientele that attended when Clark’s Pond was open,” Collins said. “They were used to going there, and we feel as though that’s not going to change.”
The company expects the theater to open in January.
Nearby, Regal Entertainment Group plans to open a new cinema in 2008 at the Maine Mall, in the space formerly occupied by Filene’s.
However, that project has been slowed due to a lawsuit filed against the city by Joe Soley, who owns the Clark’s Pond property. Regal’s plan includes removal of 200 parking spaces at the Maine Mall, and the lawsuit contends this would have an adverse effect on Soley’s property due to congestion, traffic and water runoff. He is asking the South Portland Board of Appeals to reverse its decision to allow the renovations.
South Portland Community Planner Stephen Puleo said he thought Soley’s suit “was an odd way of contesting the project.”
“It could be a strategy to affect the cinema,” Puleo said.
He said General Growth Properties, owner of the Maine Mall, is reviewing the plans for the project. No trial date has been set.
Regal Entertainment spokesman Russ Nunley said the company still intends to open its cinema next year.
On the move by Cinemagic to the Clark’s Pond site, Nunley said, “It doesn’t make economic sense for them to open up a new theater, knowing that we are coming.”
Regal Entertainment Group closed its Clark’s Pond facility in May after its lease expired with Soley. Soley’s company, Clark’s Pond South Portland LLC, reached an agreement with Zyacorp Monday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
