Local moviegoers may be checking out flicks in a new,
state-of-the-art Premier Cinemas movie theater before the year is
up.
Hollister – Local moviegoers may be checking out flicks in a new, state-of-the-art Premier Cinemas movie theater before the year is up.
The new theater – which will have 10 screens, stadium seating with about 900 seats and new sound systems – will replace Premier’s decade-old, six-screen theater on McCray Street. Construction started about 90 days ago, and the project is scheduled to be finished by December, according to Premier’s General Manager Sergio Contreras
“We believe it to be state of the art, as good as any location in the area or anywhere else,” Contreras said.
Premier’s existing six-screen 700-seat theater just isn’t large enough to offer the variety of movies that the theater’s patrons wanted, according to Contreras.
“We could not bring in enough product to satisfy the needs and desires of the community,” he said, adding that theater staff often received complaints from customers because the theater did not show movies for a long enough time before they were replaced with new films.
With a new, larger theater, Premier will be able to run popular movies longer, Contreras said. Also, the theater will be able to expand the variety of movies it shows and ad foreign films, Spanish-language films and art house films that will appeal to more specific audiences.
Contreras said that there are plans to use the existing theater building once the new one, which is adjacent to the existing theater, is built
“We’re hoping to convert it to two-story retail,” he said.
Premier’s plans to build a new theater in Hollister go back about six years, according to Contreras. In 2002, Premier wanted to annex nearly 5 acres of county land into the city to build on. But that year the city was hit with a state-imposed building moratorium after 15 million gallons of treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River, and Premier had to put its plans on hold.
Then late last year, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved a zoning change on the property, giving Premier the go ahead to pull building permits and start construction of the new theater. The theater will remain on an island of county land in Hollister and will use a private septic system until the building moratorium is lifted and the property can be annexed into Hollister and use the city’s sewer system. City officials have said that a new sewer plant will likely be completed in late 2007.
Premier Cinemas also owns the Granada Theater in Hollister and a theater in Los Banos.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
