Kerasotes Theaters Continues Its Legacy with a Focus on Luxury, Kerasotes Continues to Open Its Showplace ICON Theaters Nationwide

KERASOTES

Kerasotes Theaters Continues Its Legacy With a focus on luxury, Kerasotes continues to open its ShowPlace ICON theaters nationwide.

Katie Sloan

fter more than 100 years in the motion picture exhibition indus- Atry, third generation managers Tony and Dean Kerasotes are continuing to develop their family’s theaters nationwide with a focus on luxury. “Our grandfather started Kerasotes in Springfield, Illinois, with a nickelodeon in 1909,” says Tony Kerasotes, president at Kerasotes Theaters. “He expanded the brand with a few other theaters in Central Illinois. By 2009, we were up to about 100 locations with about 1,000 screens oper- ating — we were the fifth largest circuit in the United States at that time.” In 2009, the company signed a deal to sell its theaters to AMC. “That deal closed in the spring of 2010, however, there were three theaters that were not included in the deal,” says Kerasotes. “They had just opened, and it didn’t make financial sense to sell them as part of the AMC transac- Kerasotes will open a new ShowPlace ICON theatre as part of the expansion at Westfeld’s tion, so we decided to keep them and use Valley Fair Mall in California’s Silicon Valley. them as the base for our rebirth, beginning in 2010.” the traditional large circuit theater was “We’re less of a restaurant and more of Working with those three theaters, Ker- providing at the time.” a bar than some of our competitors,” says asotes branched out into a new chapter This industry attention spawned a Kerasotes. “Our goal was to have a very for the company using the ShowPlace flurry of theater development across the sophisticated bar where people would ICON Theatre in Chicago as a model for U.S. for Kerasotes. That attention has actually want to go to have a drink or new endeavors. led to deals in premium locations such as something light before or after the show. “The most important of the three Seaport Square in Boston; The Yards in We succeeded in moving the bar up on remaining theaters was the ShowPlace Washington, D.C.; The Boro in Tyson’s the bar, if you will. We also implemented ICON in Chicago,” says Tony Kerasotes. Corner, Virginia; Five Lagunas in Laguna “It was a big 16-screen theater in the South Hills, California; and two in the heart of Loop area, which was an up-and-coming California’s Silicon Valley — The Village neck of the woods in Chicago at that time at San Antonio Center in Mountain View that was not serviced by a theater. My and at Westfield’s Valley Fair Mall in Santa brother Dean did all the design work, and Clara. came up with the idea to put in a lounge “These are all super locations with high and VIP rooms off the mezzanine area.” density, high income and high educational This concept set the industry, and de- levels, which is the type of market we have velopers, abuzz. “The location garnered targeted for this type of unit,” says Tony industry attention and interest from de- Kerasotes. velopers,” says Tony Kerasotes. “Espe- The most notable attributes in Kera- The ICON theatre in Chicago was the cially developers who had projects going sotes’ latest iteration include a bar with company’s inspiration for expanding the high where they wanted something different food offerings and VIP rooms, which lead end theatre model. and something a little more upscale than off the mezzanine bars at each theater.

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reserved seating and age restrictive poli- cies to go along with the more adult, bar setting.” The latest theaters by Kerasotes also contain recliner seating. “We’re in the process of doing some remodeling work at our Chicago theater,” says Kerasotes. “We’ve completed installing recliners in our VIP rooms, and we’ve got eight other screens that we’ve revamped for recliners, which will be finished by the beginning of May.” Kerasotes believes the success of their latest iteration can sometimes be attribut- ed to the landlord’s preference for an upscale theater without a heavy restaurant component. “There are landlords who really aren’t looking for a restaurant,” says Tony Kerasotes. “While they do have their place in the exhibition universe, some of our competitors are essentially restaurants — they have limited seating and they generate their revenue from food and beverage. They don’t generate the ShowPlace ICON will open as part of Merlone Geier Partners’ The Village at San Antonio Center kind of traffic that a regular theater, like in Mountain View, California. an ICON would.”

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Kerasotes notes that another positive attribute for landlords is the lack of com- petition a Kerasotes theater brings to other restaurants in the tenant mix. “We don’t create issues with other restaurant operators who really don’t like to see a cinema eatery within close proximity,” says Kerasotes. “We aim to be compli- mentary and not competitive with the restaurants at any given shopping center. We have upscale bar food.” Moving forward, Kerasotes believes it’s difficult to pinpoint what technology will be featured in their theaters as technology advances all the time. “As far as technology, it is changing so rapidly that I would hate to say exactly what we’re going to do,” says Kerasotes. “Our theaters moving forward will be recliner only, with VIP seating areas generally off of the lounge, which is 21-year-old and over only. The main difference between what we have Rendering of the ShowPlace ICON theatre at Seaport Square in Boston. done in the past and what we plan to do in the future, aside from the technologi- cal advancements, is that every seat will be recliner from the get-go.” working on designs for the Boston loca- kind of space is not always available. We Kerasotes believes the design of the bar tion, and they’re a tremendous firm.” do not have a prototype — our prototype in locations to be extremely important to Kerasotes luxury theaters typically vary is by way of design, amenities, projection the success of the theater. “We’re going to in size by location. “It all depends on the and sound.” design very cool bars for all of our upcom- space that was available,” says Kerasotes. The company also targets high income, ing theaters. They will be custom designed “Ideally, we would like to have 12 to 14 or high-density markets with difficulty of and with a custom menu for the particular 16 screens in each location but some of entry. “The first thing we look at is the area,” says Kerasotes. “Elkus Manfredi is these areas are so difficult to build in, that income, density and education level,” says Kerasotes. “We also examine how well the area is serviced by the existing screens. That is something we take a very hard look at because we really aim to bring something new to the equation.” For Dean and Tony Kerasotes, the development of new theaters is more a cre- ative outlet than a means to an end. “I’m at the stage of my life now where unless I want to go to that particular place, I’m not going to do a theater there,” says Tony Kerasotes. “In my prior life, we had theaters in all kinds of smaller markets, and though it’s possible to still do that sort of stuff, I want to limit our efforts to ones that are more high end and exclusive. We just enjoy doing this. I find it fun to do and it’s the only area of exhibition that’s of any interest to me.” SCB

ShowPlace ICON will open at The Boro in Tysons Corner, Virginia, in 2019.

242 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • May 2016 A TOAST TO OUR DEVELOPER PARTNERS!

T H E A T R E S

SEAPORT SQUARE W/S Development Associates LLC Boston, MA

THE VILLAGE Merlone Geier Partners at SAN ANTONIO CENTER Mountain View, CA

THE FIVE LAGUNAS Merlone Geier Partners Laguna Hills, CA

THE VALLEY FAIR MALL Westfield Group Santa Clara/San Jose, CA

THE YARDS Forest City Enterprises Washington, DC

THE BORO The Meridian Group Tysons Corner, VA