Two separate groups have filed appeals with the city to block the Olympic Place project. It would include a 2,900 seat cinema, ground-level retail shops, a restaurant, office space and a 600-plus parking garage. City council members will hear the complaints March 6 and review the appeals.
Both groups question whether the movie theater can survive in the area and worry that buildings are being constructed unnecessarily. They contend that the theater will compete with a brand new 16-screen theater under construction four miles away in Pleasant Hill and neighboring Concord's newer 14-screen theater.
The proposal and the appeal come in the midst of great tumult in the movie theater industry thanks to a glut of new screens and not enough new paying customers. Close to a dozen theater chains, large and small, filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
Regal Cinemas Inc., which has movie theaters in Dublin and Antioch, has announced it will consider shutting 30% of its theaters as it struggles to repay a $2 billion debt. And Loews Cineplex, which runs Sony Metreon in San Francisco, is considering a bankruptcy filing.
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