Big news in Dallas cinema-plex circles – Robert Wilonsky at the Observer reports that Alamo Drafthouse, the legendary Austin movie and dining chain, is going to open six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There has been a buzz in the neighborhood for the town center to get an Alamo since the beginning of the project. (And how quaint – Prescott said in that 18 month-old-post that it expected to start construction at the beginning of 2009.)
After the jump, a couple of thoughts on whether that can happen, based on research I’m doing for an upcoming story about neighborhood retail:
The good news is that an Alamo seems like a perfect fit for the town center, according to the company. The theaters have worked well in “open-air lifestyle centers,” which is developer-speak for what the town center will be. They require half the seating capacity of a multi-plex and take up fewer parking spaces.
The other bit of good news? Ed Fox, the SMU retail guru, told me this week that if he was developing the town center, he’d forget about trying to get a traditional retail anchor and bring in a movie theater.
But here’s the bad news, which means we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up:
• Those six theaters are going to be built over the next three years, and Prescott needs an anchor now.
• Fox said it’s unlikely that a developer like Prescott, given the town center’s financial requirements, could afford to switch anchor types in mid-development. They probably need the cash from a lease with a traditional retailer.
• Alamo is looking for what the industry calls “multi-unit area developers who have the resources and capability to open, own and operate five to 10 locations in an exclusive territory during a three- to five-year period.” What that means is that they need franchise operators with deep pockets who want to open and run theaters in a bunch of places. That means Prescott doesn’t just have to woo Alamo, but whoever Alamo awards the franchise to. And my guess is that any franchisee is going to look north and west before they look here.
