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Burlington loses its downtown movie house
By Leslie Wright
Free Press Staff Writer
The Nickelodeon, Burlington's downtown movie theater known for showing independent films, has gone dark after 22 years.
Nickelodeon Cinemas 6 showed its last movies Sunday. Monday morning the "Now Showing" poster cases that lined the building were empty. White letters on the blue board in the window that used to list movies and show times said, "Sorry We Are Closed."
Local theater owner Merrill Jarvis is interested in buying the six-screen, 900-seat theater, offering film buffs hope that foreign and independent movies not often seen on the screens of corporate-owned chain theaters will return to the Nickelodeon's screens.
"We are looking at it," Jarvis said. "We haven't signed any papers."
He declined to answer questions about his plans for the theater.
Rick Winston, who owns The Savoy Theater, was surprised to hear that the Nickelodeon was closed. The Savoy is a single-screen art house theater in Montpelier.
"This is totally outrageous," Winston said. "There are so many good movies out there but only a small percentage of them really get out into the hinterlands."
Nickelodeon was known for showing a mix of commercial Hollywood movies and more off-beat independent films popular among college town movie-goers.
Sunday the theater's lineup included "Gods and Generals," "Adaptation," "Talk to Her" and "The Pianist," movies not available at other theaters in Chittenden County.
The Nickelodeon was operated by Boston-based Hoyts Cinemas Corp. Hoyts has not renewed the lease for the theater on the corner of South Winooski Avenue and College Street.
The lease runs out at the end of February, said Bob Bouchard, development manager for Pizzagalli Properties, the company that built and owns the theater.
Bouchard said the building has been under contract to be sold for about a week. He would not reveal the potential buyer.
Dan Bradley was a manager of the Nickelodeon in the 1980's when the theater was owned by Joel Tranum. The Boston-based developer opened the theater in December 1981, Bradley said. The Burlington theater was one of several Nickelodeons in Boston, Cape Cod, Mass., and Portland, Maine.
In those days the movie theater showed mostly independent films and had a decidedly independent feel with Haagan-Daz ice cream and trail mixed offered up in the lobby, Bradley recalled.
Film professor Barry Snyder would like to see the theater in local hands. A local owner would more likely be in touch with the college town and appreciate the market for off-beat films, said Snyder, who is head of Burlington College's cinema studies and film production department.
"The hope is that whatever takes its place, whether Merrill Jarvis starts a theater downtown or some other owner comes in, that they recognize that's the niche it's carved out," Snyder said.
Local ownership of theaters is increasing as chains depart
The departure of Hoyts Cinemas Corp. from downtown Burlington means the corporate giant that once held a monopoly on local movie screens no longer dominates.
Once operator of more than two dozen screens in six theaters in the area, Hoyts is down to nine screens at one theater in South Burlington.
The change has fueled speculation about the future of Hoyts in the area and opened up opportunities for local owners to take over. Growing local ownership reverses a trend that saw absentee owners operating local movie theaters in the area for nearly a decade.
Hoyts most recently shuttered Nickelodeon Cinemas 6, which showed its last movies Sunday. The lease for the theater expires at the end of February and Hoyts failed to renew, said Bob Bouchard, development manager for Pizzagalli Properties, the building's owner.
Local movie theater owner Merrill Jarvis is interested in buying the theater but said he hasn't signed any papers on the deal. He declined to discuss his plans for the theater should he become the new owner.
Bouchard said the building is under contract, but would not reveal the buyer.
"We have a ready, willing and able buyer," he said.
This is not the first time Hoyts has decided not to renew a lease for a movie theater in the area. Last summer Hoyts also failed to renew the lease for Showcase Cinemas 5 on Williston Road in South Burlington.
Jarvis, who owns the building, took that theater over. He also took over Ethan Allen Cinema, a four-screen theater in Burlington. Jarvis sold both of those operations to Hoyts, along with three other theaters in 1994.
Boston-based Hoyts operates 97 theaters in 12 states, mostly in the Northeast. Regal Entertainment Group announced earlier this month that it would buy 52 of Hoyts' theaters. What would happen to the rest of the Hoyts theaters remains the subject of speculation.
Hoyts officials at the Nickelodeon on Monday referred questions to company headquarters in Boston. Calls to headquarters were not returned.
Dick Westerling, senior vice president of marketing at Regal said the sale should be complete during the first half of this year. He would not reveal the locations of the theaters that Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal plans to buy.
Regal operates the most movie screens in the country.
Local ownership
If Jarvis buys the Nickelodeon he will continue a new trend in local ownership of area movie theaters. A little over a year ago Essex Outlets Cinema opened with eight screens and local ownership.
Jarvis is building a new multi-plex theater in Williston at Maple Tree Place with partner Harold Blank of Boston, a former Hoyts employee. The Majestic 10 theater is slated to open this fall.
The renewed interest from local owners is partly because the national chains aren't interested in the Burlington market, said Peter Edelmann, president of EuroWest Properties in Essex, which owns the Essex Outlets Cinema.
The giant movie corporations over-built in the late '90s and pulled back from smaller markets, he said. He tried to get a national chain to build the theater at Essex Outlets, but couldn't raise any interest.
The same thing happened at Maple Tree Place, he said.
The Nickelodeon could be a successful operation for a new owner, he said. Edelmann said that by the time he inquired about the business, it was under contract.
"It has definitely shown itself to be a good niche theater," he said.
Contact Leslie Wright at 660-1841 or lwright@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
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