Sundance Theater

Yay!!

Sundance Theater moving into downtown


Downtown will have a new art house movie theater by November.


Sundance Cinemas, owned by Robert Redford's Sundance Group, has signed a lease with Cordish Co., a Baltimore-based development firm that has a 55-year lease for the entertainment complex at Bayou Place, Cordish and the city of Houston announced Thursday.

Negotiations for a new theater lasted eight months, and four other theater companies were considered, said developer Ed Wulfe, who participated in negotiations on behalf of the city for free. The city owns the building, where longtime tenant Angelika shut its doors after a dispute with landlord Cordish.

"This is a coup for downtown," Wulfe said. "It brings one more level of entertainment to the downtown district that creates energy and interest and really can do a lot to serve the theater district."

The 36,000-square-foot space will be remodeled to the tune of about $2.3 million. Wulfe said the remodeling costs will be split about evenly between Cordish, Sundance and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority, which operates the tax increment reinvestment zone that encompasses 60 downtown city blocks. Construction starts today.

A cut of the sales

The 10-year lease calls for a percentage of sales to be paid to the Downtown Redevelopment Authority if the theater meets a certain projected sales target, Wulfe said.

"It could be $5 or it could be $100,000, depending on how well they do," he said.

Under a reinvestment zone, some of an area's property taxes are set aside to reinvest them within the zone.

The Houston theater will have eight screens and will offer free parking. There will be no separate restaurant, but an expanded food and drink menu that will include alcoholic beverages.

'Absolutely fantastic'

"I think it's absolutely fantastic to have Sundance, which has a bigger and more hip name than any of the other theater companies," said Larry Plotsky, a retail broker not involved in the deal. "And when you have only one location nearby, it makes it a special destination."

As in its other two locations, in San Francisco and Madison, Wis., the Houston theater will offer only reserved seating, meaning customers must choose their seats. Those theaters also charge an "amenity fee" of $1 to $1.50 that allows it to avoid playing television ads, offer reserved seating and support local artists, according to the theaters' website.

Sundance hasn't decided about amenity fees yet in Houston, CEO Sundance Cinemas President and CEO Paul Richardson said. "As soon as we know, we'll let everyone know."

Sundance theaters play a mix of art, independent, world and documentary films as well as some from major distributors. Movies now showing at the two current locations include The King's Speech,The Lincoln Lawyer and Cedar Rapids.

Sundance Cinemas joins a list of other recently announced tenants at Bayou Place, including four nightclubs that will take up about 18,000 square feet of space on the second floor. The first, a western-themed club called Professional Bull Riders, opened last month.

Sundance Cinemas joins a list of other recently announced tenants at Bayou Place, including four nightclubs that will take up about 18,000 square feet of space on the second floor. The first, a western-themed club called Professional Bull Riders, opened last month.

The clubs will join Samba Grille, which opened last year, and recently opened sushi restaurant Blue Fish.

History of closings

The tenants signal new signs of life at Bayou Place, where several other spots have closed their doors.

In 2008, Sake Lounge shuttered a few months after the high-end dining concept Vin closed. Slick Willie's downtown pool hall is also no longer open.

The complex is still home to Hard Rock Cafe, Mingalone Italian Bar & Grill and the Verizon Wireless Theater music venue.

Cordish didn't respond to requests for comment.

"I am so happy to see our newest Sundance Cinemas facility coming to Houston. It's a great city for our next step forward," Redford said in a written statement. The Redford Group also owns the Sundance Film Festival.

Original.