As part of its effort to divest itself of older cinemas, Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. is looking to shutter or sublease eight of its Orange County locations.
The Newport Beach-based theater firm, Orange County’s largest movie-house chain and one of the dominant entertainment brands in Southern California, has already unloaded its Mission Viejo property at the corner of Crown Valley Parkway and Medical Center Road. Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, the buyer, has leased the property to The Life Church.
The theater chain has hired Pentz & Partners Inc., a Newport Beach-based brokerage firm, to market its properties.
According to industry sources, Edwards is undertaking a similar effort in San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside counties.
In Orange County, the properties on the market are at:
- Adams Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa,
- El Toro Road and Rockfield Boulevard in Lake Forest,
- Brookhurst Avenue and Warner Boulevard in Fountain Valley,
- Barranca Parkway and Lake Road in the old Woodbridge shopping center in Irvine,
- Coast Highway and Broadway in Laguna Beach,
- Rancho Niguel Road and Crown Valley Parkway in Laguna Niguel, and
- Camino Capistrano and Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano.
One other property, at Brookhurst Street and Edinger Avenue in Fountain Valley, was being shopped, but has been taken off the market because its lease will expire soon.
All of the properties are viewed as antiquated, with the possible exception of the Laguna Niguel property, a fairly new movie house that has not drawn the expected traffic. That property is being marketed because of its proximity to more upscale cinemas nearby and because that location does not boast stadium seating, a perk that audiences consciously look for in deciding where to take in a movie, according to an industry source.
Layoffs Expected
With the shuttering of these properties, an undetermined number of part- and full-time layoffs are expected.
The move is an attempt by Edwards to reposition the company, moving it away from outdated, stand-alone theaters and toward stadium-seating megaplexes that are attached to entertainment centers.
Looking to replace and/or complement existing mall complexes, real estate developers increasingly are looking to develop entertainment centers, developments that seek to combine a retail environment with entertainment venues such as restaurants and movie theaters with the overall goal of increasing foot traffic for the complementary uses.
Edwards has been at the forefront of this trend, boasting state-of-the-art, multiscreen complexes at such locations as the Irvine Spectrum Center, Metro Pointe and Tustin Market Place/The Market Place.
Peter Bastone, president of the Mission Hospital, which purchased the Mission Viejo property, said the Edwards officials positioned their marketing of the property as an effort to get out of older theaters and into newer ones.
“Because of their investments in new facilities, it just makes sense to get out of old facilities,” he said. “It’s just good economic sense.”
That may be especially true in the case of the Mission Viejo theater property he acquired. A short distance away, Edwards has a new multiscreen property in the Kaleidoscope entertainment center.
No-Competition Clauses
Still, while Edwards Theaters officials view these properties as dinosaurs, they’re making sure that any new tenant does not try to rejuvenate them into profitable movie houses that may pose competition. As part of the deal with Mission Hospital, the new owner cannot re-sell the property to a competing theater company or operate it as an entertainment destination.
“Things we would be able to show on that property would be health and education films, but nothing that would be construed as entertainment in particular,” Bastone said.n
