Michael Hohmann wrote:
> Looks like Block E will have some added competition from a new 16-screen
> movie theater with stadium-style seating, plus two new restaurants (with
> full liquor licenses) to be added at Southdale in late 2001...snip...and all
> seemingly without a TIF subsidy from Edina.
But will the Edina theaters have the plush nay, palatial
interior that Ms.
Cherryhomes (you know her, the affordable housing advocate
who works tirelessly
for Minneapolis' working families) and company cited as that
which
differentiates a "Block E" multiscreen motion picture
complex (which promises to
have the panache and necessary filigree to hearken even the
most casual movie
goer back to the days of the grand movie multiplexes of
Hollywood's golden age)
from your run-of-the-mill suburban multiplex?
I say, not a chance. A Block E movie experience could have
bulk candy in
velveteen bags, plush red carpet not just on the floor, but
on the walls too,
posters promoting the next Adam Sandler/Pauly Shore buddy
cop effort hanging in
a really ornate ersatz-gilded frame, ferns in knock-off
Erte vases. Let's see
Edina match that! And, don't forget, the Block E movie goer,
after departing
from the darkened bathroom-sized theater surging with the
adrenaline that goes
with a Jean Claude Van Damme vampire flick, has the option
to head to
Gameworks** and have a Long Island Ice Tea, a plate of onion
rings and the
chance to pretend they are racing in the Indy 500 (the very
game played by Blair
Underwood and David Schwimmer at the Gameworks grand opening
in Vegas). Plus
don't forget that the City Center and all the fun that goes
with it is right
across the street.
I say to Edina, get out now, before the Block E steamroller
buries you like a
turd in a cat box.
**(remember, the Cherryhomes coterie said that the Block E
deal had to get done
because Gameworks is the MOST sought after entertainment
venue in the country,
oh wait, that was ESPN Zone. I forgot, Gameworks stepped in
after the 'Zone,
which was a slated major tenant and a cornerstone for
rubber-stamping this
project fell off the table because the ESPN Zone folks had
never actually
committed to building here- in fact rumor has it that they
have never even heard
of Minneapolis, a rumor I believe to be false)**
richard carney
st. paul
