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Topic: Cinema Fusion Bankruptcy
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Christopher Crouch
Member
Posts: 292
From: Anaheim, CA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted January 27, 2010 11:47 AM
From the Orange County Business Journal
quote:
Anaheim GardenWalk Movie Theater Files for Bankruptcy
By SHERRI CRUZ
Orange County Business Journal Staff
The operator of the movie theaters at The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk has filed for bankruptcy reorganization in a dispute with the mall’s operator.
Cinema Fusion, an upscale theater that serves alcohol at some screenings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The theater is run by Gardenwalk Cinemas LLC and is a venture of Newport Beach-based Sanborn Theatres Inc. and investors.
The filing covers Gardenwalk Cinemas and doesn't include Sanborn Theatres.
Geoffrey Madden, a partner at investment banking firm Christman, Peters & Madden that counts Sanborn as a client, called the bankruptcy filing a defensive move by Sanborn Theatres and its investors, which face an eviction lawsuit and another legal action by GardenWalk’s owners.
The movie theater is profitable, according to Madden. The filing was made to avoid litigation, he said.
Gardenwalk Cinemas and the mall are at odds over rent, which led to the theater to withhold rent payments and the mall to pursue eviction, according to Madden.
Excel Realty Holdings of San Diego developed and runs the mall, which opened in 2008.
Bill Stone, senior vice president of development for Excel, said the dispute is about unpaid bills to contractors on the theater.
Unpaid contractors filed about $4 million in liens against the theater and the mall, he said. Excel has settled about $3 million worth of those liens, according to Stone.
The liens caused Anaheim GardenWalk to default on its $188 million debt last year, Stone said. That prompted a unit of Citigroup Inc. to file a default notice against the mall, first step in a potential foreclosure.
Gardenwalk Cinemas made an initial $27,000 payment to the mall in 2008 but hasn’t paid rent, insurance or other payments since then, according to Stone.
The mall is owed $2.5 million in rent, according to Gardenwalk Cinemas’ bankruptcy filing.
Stone said the mall wants to bring in another theater operator.
Gardenwalk Cinemas listed $1 million to $10 million in debt in its bankruptcy filing.
Most of its creditors are unsecured. Several of its debts are relatively small.
Sanborn Theatres owns six theaters in California, including in San Luis Obispo and Temecula. The Sanborn family got its start in the movie theater business almost a century ago.
The theater at the GardenWalk is its first upscale theater, which includes “21+ Screenings” that let movie watchers enjoy drinks in their seats with no kids allowed.
There are 14 screens at the theater, including three smaller screening rooms for parties and corporate events.
The smaller, reserved-seating screening rooms have soft music, no commercials and curtains that rise up to unveil the screen.
Owner Bruce Sanborn hoped to recreate a classic movie theater ambiance.
Cinema Fusion was Sanborn Theater’s re-entry into Orange County.
The company built Cinemapolis (now called Cinema City) in the 1980s in Anaheim Hills, when Sanborn Theaters was known as SoCal Cinemas.
His dad also was a partner at the Lido Theatre in Newport Beach for a couple of years. His grandfather, Arthur Sanborn, opened Hollywood Theater in 1918.
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Ron Pierce
Member
Posts: 59
From: Tustin, CA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted April 30, 2010 11:00 AM
From the Business section of the OC Register, April 30, 2010:
Los Angeles shopping center magnate Rick Caruso, who owns The Grove in Los Angeles and The Americana at Brand in Glendale, said he’s teaming up with private equity firm TPG to purchase and makeover distressed shopping centers in Orange County.
The Grove, which opened in 2002 and is home to Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn Kids, attracts 18 million people a year. According to its website, 92 percent of its customers on property make a purchase and it tied for No. 2 on trade publication Women’s Wear Daily’s list of top California malls. Americana at Brand is home to retailers such as Barneys New York Co-op and Tiffany & Co.
The joint venture will “invest up to $750 million of debt and equity in opportunistic investments in retail centers and mixed-use properties in select markets in the western United States,” according to a statement from Caruso-TPG Partners.
“We found an ideal partner in TPG with its global investment experience and background in real estate, giving us a competitive advantage in securing top property opportunities in this depressed market,” Caruso said.
Could Caruso-TPG Partners be interested in Anaheim GardenWalk or The Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo? Officials of the joint venture could not be reached to find out what Orange County properties the company is eyeing.
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David Imboden
New Member
Posts: 7
From: Orange, CA
Registered: Jul 2010
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posted July 22, 2010 06:40 PM
From the OC Register
quote:
ANAHEIM – North Orange County's only IMAX theater has shut down and the attached 21-and-over screening rooms – the county's only movie theaters serving alcohol – are in jeopardy amid continuing financial troubles at the GardenWalk mall.
Owners of CinemaFusion Theatre and Sky Lobby Lounge, who failed to remain current on lease payments leading to bankruptcy hearings, had first been ordered to be out by Friday.
But after shutting down the IMAX theater and beginning to unbolt chairs from seven of the 14 theaters, the property owner, Citicorp, asked the theater operator, Newport Beach-based Sanborn Theatres Inc., to halt the dismantling and keep operating what is left of the theater until mid-August.
The two parties are now scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the theater's future, said Bruce Sanborn, president of the theater company.
"We are still hopeful that some kind of deal can be worked out for us to continuing operating these theaters," Sanborn said. "It may not be likely, but we love this theater and serving our guests. We are the inventors of this concept – why not let us continue with our invention?"
GardenWalk officials say they are negotiating with another theater company to take over operations.
In a statement, Nicole Jasinskas, the mall marketing director said:
"We are in discussions with San Diego-based company UltraStar Cinemas, who has a history of operating great luxury theaters. The new operator will be taking over the theater as soon as a transition can be worked out and the intention is to not let the theater go dark."
CinemaFusion, at 321 W. Katella Ave., gained a loyal but small following, especially from the 21-and-over crowd who loved the idea of grabbing a beer and flick and not worrying about teenagers talking or kids kicking the back of their chairs.
Reviews are glowing on consumer-review websites such as Yelp.com.
But Sanborn said GardenWalk has failed to become the regional and tourist attraction that it was billed as when it opened in fall 2008. The key 13- to 18-year-old demographic has never embraced the theater.
Two adjoining hotels and a time-share project, originally expected to be open at GardenWalk by now, have stalled.
In April, ownership of GardenWalk went to Citicorp after the original developer defaulted on a $210-million loan.
Sanborn estimates his company and investors lost nearly $5 million on the theater.
IMAX pulled the plug on CinemaFusion earlier this month after a separate legal dispute between the Canadian-based company and a Sanborn theater in Riverside County. It's unclear whether IMAX would be willing to work with a new operator.
Julie Bravo, UltraStar Cinema's vice president of advertising and marketing, said her company would like to continue with IMAX and the 21-and-over aspect, but there's no guarantee.
UltraStar runs 13 theaters in Arizona and Southern California; GardenWalk would be its first Orange County location.
Because Sanborn Theatres owns the movie house's furnishings, including the chairs, UltraStar would need to buy new furnishings or agree to buy Sanborn's.
"We are ready," Bravo said. "We are very interested in the theater. We're very optimistic that when they (the landlords) are ready, we will go in and turn that theater around."
Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or ecarpenter@ocregister.com
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