Lenoir City's Town Creek retail development will be home to
a new, state-of-the-art, 10-screen, 1,800-seat movie theater
complex that will rival any cinema in the region, city
officials said Thursday.
West Virginia-based Marquee Cinemas will invest about $9
million in the 45,000-square-foot facility, to be located
off Town Creek Parkway near Interstate 75 and Highway 321.
"This new cinema will be the equivalent or better than
anything in the 16-county region," said Lenoir City Mayor
Tony Aikens.
Aikens said the new cinema will draw more restaurants and
retail business to the growing Town Creek Development. The
more than 200-acre property is poised to become a smaller
version of the Turkey Creek shopping complex in Knoxville,
he said.
Joseph Goldstein, senior vice president of developer David
Garfunkel & Co. of Savannah, Ga, said interest in the
complex is growing. Several softgoods retailers, shoe stores
and pet supply stores have signed letters of intent to
occupy space near the cinema, he said. "The theater is the
impetus to make other things happen," he said.
Marquee President Curtis McCall said the new cinema should
open in June or July of next year and will create about 35
new jobs. It will have state-of-the-art 3-D screens and the
most advanced digital sound available, he said.