Despite a building moratorium, Hollister’s Premier Cinemas will
be building a new theater with 10 screens and stadium seating right
next door to the current theater by taking advantage of a property
line-loophole that allows them to build on an island of county land
in the city.
Hollister – Despite a building moratorium, Hollister’s Premier Cinemas will be building a new theater with 10 screens and stadium seating right next door to the current theater by taking advantage of a property line-loophole that allows them to build on an island of county land in the city.
Theater owners started planning an expansion about five years ago, but ran into trouble when the state slapped a moratorium on new construction in Hollister after a 15 million-gallon sewer spill, said General Manager Sergio Contreras.
But instead of waiting for the moratorium to lift, the owners decided to nix the idea of expansion and build a new theater on a sliver of county land directly next to the current theater, Contreras said.
The new theater, which they hope to break ground on in January, will have 10 screens and be almost twice the size of the theater located on McCray Street, Contreras said. The owners want to lease the current six-screen theater to other retail businesses such as coffee or ice cream shops that will compliment their new business, he said.
The new theater will hold 920 stadium-style seats instead of the current theater’s 700 and will cost the company approximately $4 million to build, he said.
“We’ve never been able to satisfy the needs out there. Hopefully with 10 screens we will be able to,” Contreras said. “This is something we’ve been wanting.”
When the moratorium is lifted, the new theater will be annexed into the city, but until then, the theater will have its own septic tank so it doesn’t impact the city’s sewer system, said Gordon Machado, county planning commissioner.
The used water will filter through the septic tank and then leach into the ground as pure water, he said.
“They’re building it with the intention of hooking up to the city as soon as the moratorium is lifted,” Machado said. “Usually, you don’t construct on a (septic) system. Once they hook up to the city, they’ll remove the septic system.”
The county planning commission reviewed the theater proposal on Nov. 3 because there had to be a zone change from rural land to commercial land, Machado said. The planning commission recommended the approval of the project to the Board of Supervisors, which will vote on it at their Dec. 7 meeting, he said.
The only concern brought up during the planning commission’s meetings was whether there would be sufficient parking, Machado said. The proposal meets the minimum standards of one-and-a-half parking spots per seat, he said.
Before the moratorium is lifted, the city will provide all of the theater’s water and storm drain services, said City Manager Clint Quilter.
After the moratorium is lifted the city council can either make a request to annex the building back into the city or the Local Agency Formation Commission can request the property be annexed, Quilter said. LAFCo annexes county lands into Hollister limits.
“We reviewed (the project) early on to be consistent with city policy when they do annex, so the utilities will be adequate to connect to the (city’s) system,” Quilter said.
If everything goes according to plan, the new theater could be completed by August or September of 2005, and owners hope to inconvenience movie-goers as little as possible during the conversion, Contreras said.
The old theater will close one day and the new theater will open the next, he said.
“It actually made it easier when we decided to do it as a stand-alone,” he said.
Although the endeavor has been long and trying, Contreras said all the theater’s investors are excited and confident the project will be successful.
“The theater is starting to show its age and a brand new location will be perfect,” he said. “I think this will do well.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
