The developer of a 10-screen movie theater is targeting a Memorial Day 2011 opening date. An official with B&B Theatres announced the date during an Aug. 26 Ozark Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Dennis McIntire, Liberty-based B&B Theatres director of strategic planning, was brought before the chamber of commerce to "share some good news," that a target date has been nailed down, said Dori Grinder, Ozark Chamber of Commerce executive director. The theater would be Ozark's first in four decades.
The proposed 30,000-square-feet movie theater, dubbed Ozark-Nixa Cinema 10, has been in the works for about three years and will cost about $7 million. B&B Theatres looked at Ozark a few years ago, decided the market wasn't quite ready and came back to aggressively pursue it about 18 months ago, McIntire said.
Now, he says, the area is prime for a theater.
"When you look at Ozark and Nixa together, it's an area that's growing very, very quickly," he said. "It's a market that's ready."
McIntire said the financing is in place - only the finishing touches on the paperwork need to be completed.
"We don't see any concerns," he said. "We feel like everything is just imminent.
"We feel favorable enough that we turned our architect loose to update the drawings."
The theater will be built behind Mitchum Jewelers, on West Highway 14, as a part of Gunnett LLC-developed Town & Country Village, he said.
B&B Theatres had originally planned to work alongside Michigan-based Plazacorp Realty to develop the project, but Plazacorp had to bow out due to financing concerns, McIntire said.
B&B Theatres, now the project's developer, will be constructing retail locations at the site, McIntire said. B&B will act as the leasing agent for the time being but could turn the leasing over to another company in the future.
Grinder said she is hoping a restaurant will be located on-site. McIntire said the company would love to put a couple restaurants at the location, but there are no such immediate plans.
Ozark's theater will be designed in retro art deco style, Grinder said, noting that the company would use its experience constructing the nearly complete B&B theater in Wildwood, near St. Louis, to help iron out details at the Ozark theater.
Construction is expected to start this fall, McIntire said, adding that the start date is the hardest one to pin down.
Grinder said the theater is a good sign for Ozark and for Christian County, as it means developers are taking notice of the area.
"Christian County is a fast growing area," she said. "We'd love to entertain (people here) and not have them have to go to Springfield. It's a great draw."[[In-content Ad]]
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