The new Cinerama Dome Entertainment Center will feature shops, restaurants and other retail venues to serve tourists and neighborhood residents alike. The project is considered a lynchpin in the effort to revitalize the east side of Hollywood, a section of town that hasn't enjoyed the same level of investment activity that its westerly neighbors have recently experience.

The landmark Cinerama Dome itself—which opened in 1963 with the world premier of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"—was shut down Sunday night after a special showing of the classic "Lawrence of Arabia." But the theater will re-open in 2001, a spokeswoman for Pacific Theatres Realty says, after the company's new retail component is completed.

Pacific Theatres Realty is the development arm of LA-based Pacific Theatres, which operates more than 400 screens in California and Hawaii.