Shopping Centers Today

APR 2017

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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46 S C T / A P R I L 2 0 1 7 ter owners view theaters differently than they once did, and what opportunities has this created for AMC? I think owners of shopping centers have always viewed movie theaters as an important part of their tenant mix. That's proba- bly true today more than ever. AMC is in the middle of a multi- year process to upgrade our theaters and dramatically improve the guest experience. This effort is driving substantial atten- dance growth, which is great for both AMC and the shopping centers in which we are located. Many of our landlords have invested with us by providing tenant improvement funds to renovate our theaters. It's good business for them, because in- creased attendance for AMC translates into more business for the shopping center overall. AMC introduced multiplex theaters in the 1960s and the megaplex format in the 1990s. It is my understanding that theaters are downsizing, meaning that new theaters are smaller than their predecessors and in some cases operators are downsizing within an existing space. Is this the case, and if so, why? What are the implications of this trend for shop- ping centers? It's true that 15 to 20 years ago, many in the exhibition in- dustry, including AMC, were build- ing larger theaters, sometimes up to 30 screens. Over the years I think the industry has come to realize that smaller footprints, generally in the range of 12 to 18 screens, are more efficient and still large enough to ac- commodate all the current movies. In the case of a mall, this can mean that the owner of the property may now have additional square footage to put to use for an alternate purpose while still being able to offer customers a top-notch cinema experience. To what extent is AMC opening new theaters versus growing through consolidation? During the last several years, AMC has primarily focused on renovating our existing fleet of theaters with recliner seats, enhanced food-and-beverage of- ferings and other upgrades to improve the overall guest experience. We will continue this effort with the remain- ing AMC theaters over the next couple of years and will also begin renovating the Carmike and Odeon locations with many of the same enhancements. That being said, organic growth is still an important part of our plans. We ex- pect to open six new theaters in the United States this year and have added resources to our development team to pursue additional new build and spot-acquisition opportunities. AMC has undertaken several trans- formative acquisitions since you took the helm. Two of those deals made AMC the largest player in Eu- rope. What is attractive about the European market, which, like the Brian Cooper Director of Leasing 407-650-1206 brian.cooper@nnnreit.com 100% Equity Financing Nationwide Single-Tenant Retail Developer Funding with Forward Commitment

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