Penn closes in on theater deal

More than three months after it collapsed, the former Sundance Cinemas project may soon have a new financial backer to restart construction on the half-finished theater. General Cinemas, which was providing the majority of funding for the project, filed for bankruptcy last October, and announced in November that it would no longer serve as a financial partner. Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas, the other member of the joint venture, backed out after failing to find to find a replacement for General Cinemas. But with both former partners now fully out of the picture, University officials say Penn may have its much-awaited theater after all. According to Executive Vice President John Fry, Penn has been speaking with a few potential theater operators -- with one in particular emerging as a favorite. "We're in discussions with them right now," Fry said, but declined to release the name of the potential partner. "Now that we have finalized our relationship with General Cinemas and Sundance -- formally ended that relationship -- we've identified a national chain and have entered into substantive discussions with them." While Fry would not reveal the name of the potential financial backer, he did say that the prospective partner is a national company not based in Philadelphia. This marks a departure from Penn's initial strategy, which was to avoid a national chain after the General Cinemas debacle. Fry also declined to say when construction on the theater might resume. The theater complex, which was originally supposed to show independent films, will now offer slightly more mainstream fare. "My sense is that [the movies] will be more mainstream, but there will still be a strong bent towards independent film," he said. "I think we end up in a better place, because I think it will be more broadly appealing to as many constituencies as possible." Fry said that the plans for a restaurant and a tapas bar in the complex, located at 40th and Walnut streets, will also be completed. But where Sundance had planned to operate both the movie and restaurant components -- something that added difficulty to the initial venture -- the new complex will likely have separate operators. "Our first priority is on the cinema operator," he said. "But given the success of the retail on 40th Street, we're going to have a lot of very good options open relative to the restaurant." The theater was supposed to be the cornerstone of Penn's revitalization plans for the 40th Street corridor. When the Sundance-General Cinemas partnership folded, the University was left to either take control of the project or be left with a half-finished construction site. University officials vowed to find a financial backer as quickly as possible to get the project started again. The West Philadelphia community and Penn students share the desire to get the project back on track. Calling the former Sundance complex "a magnet for attracting business, crowds, and potential customers," Spruce Hill Community Association President Barry Grossbach said that he hopes construction will resume as soon as possible. "We understand that the University is working actively to find a replacement," he said. "No one is happy about the fact that construction is stopped." Noting that construction at the Dental School on 40th and Locust streets has stopped as well, Grossbach added that "40th Street looks like a construction zone on vacation at this point." Graduate student Cory Thorne agreed, and said he hopes the cinema complex will continue in its plan to offer independent films. "My understanding was that there was supposed to be a cinema that would have alternative, non-mainstream films," he said. "It would be really nice to have a place close to campus where you could see something different." University President Judith Rodin first announced plans for the project in the fall of 1998, with the theater slated to open last spring. Slow construction and architectural complications delayed the process, leaving the theater with a planned January 2001 opening. According to Fry, the new Freshgrocer supermarket opening across the street next month and the abundant retail options on 40th Street has made the project more desirable for potential investors. "All that is going to help us with the cinema and the restaurant," he said.

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