Plans are underway to convey the films again to Larkspur Touchdown.
Tucked away however in the course of a significant transit hub alongside Freeway 101 and throughout from the Marin Nation Mart purchasing heart, the theater on the 1.57-acre website at 500 Larkspur Touchdown Circle was quietly closed in September when its lease was up.
David Corkill, proprietor of Cinema West Inc., has entered right into a long-term lease with property homeowners Syufy Enterprises, a San Rafael firm. Corkill mentioned after Cinemark vacated the Larkspur Touchdown theater, Syufy Enterprises representatives requested if he can be concerned with operating the theater.
Corkill filed an utility with the town for an inside transform, with plans to open this yr, he mentioned.
“It’s an incredible location, however the facilities there have been missing,” Corkill mentioned of the theater. “Individuals in southern Marin would love a pleasant movie show to attend that’s correctly improved, and that’s what we intend to do.”
On the time it closed, a Cinemark spokesperson mentioned the closure is “regular course of enterprise and the results of the cautious and ongoing evaluate” of its theaters.
Metropolis planners had been eyeing the property for its potential as a residential redevelopment alternative, Elise Semonian, the town’s director of group improvement, mentioned. The property was included within the metropolis’s draft housing ingredient websites stock, a listing of properties that had been deemed appropriate for residential improvement.
The stock was a part of the town’s 2023-2031 housing ingredient. The doc, mandated by the state, requires the town to indicate it will probably accommodate 979 new residences throughout that eight-year cycle.
Initially, the theater website had been sized as much as accommodate as much as 54 new residences, and over 200 if it was redeveloped along with neighboring addresses 700, 900 and 1100 Larkspur Touchdown Circle.
“We have now eliminated the location from the draft housing ingredient stock since it’s unlikely to be developed with housing within the subsequent eight years,” Semonian mentioned.
As a result of the draft stock offered a big buffer, figuring out potential for greater than 2,000 residences, eradicating the theater from the listing may have no influence, Semonian mentioned.
Corkill’s Cinema West operates a number of film homes, together with the Fairfax Theatre, and beforehand the Tiburon Playhouse. Corkill operated the Tiburon theater for 30 years earlier than it grew to become a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020, he mentioned. The three-screen Tiburon theater at 40 Important St. has since reopened beneath the administration of Cinelounge.
At Larkspur Touchdown, Corkill has plans to repurpose the inside area to accommodate 5 screens, as a substitute of 4. The outdated theater seating can be changed with luxurious, electrical recliners, he mentioned.
“They are going to be a lot better spaced to permit for extra elbow room, which is what’s desired at present,” Corkill mentioned.
“There actually is a retraction by way of the variety of film theaters,” Corkill mentioned. “However film theaters which might be effectively situated with trendy facilities are nonetheless serving a objective.”
Semonian mentioned the theater utility is beneath employees evaluate. The theater use will present native leisure for residents, she mentioned.
“Reopening of the theater ought to contribute to the financial well being of our restaurant and retail companies within the Larkspur Touchdown space,” Semonian mentioned.
“It’s fantastic information,” Julie Erlwein Cervetto, govt director of the Larkspur Chamber of Commerce, mentioned of the theater plan.
“I assumed Cinemark closing was an actual loss,” she mentioned. “We obtained numerous suggestions from individuals in that group that they weren’t completely happy, as a result of that meant they needed to go to Tiburon, to Northgate or Novato. I believe we’ll have numerous completely happy individuals. We’re thrilled.”