NTR: Peabody Place may try suites; Plan would remodel top two levels, close Muvico
from ca.com:
Peabody Place may try suites
Plan would remodel top two levels, close Muvico
By David Flaum
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A suite hotel may be in the works for the top two levels of Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center as the last two stores on the second floor of the Downtown complex get ready to close.
A decision on the plan for Peabody Suites will come by mid-summer, said Marty Belz, head of Belz Enterprises' Peabody Hotel Group.
"We have some architectural work and engineering work going on," Belz said Wednesday. "We're trying to determine how it can be laid out as a hotel and if it can be developed efficiently."
If the decision is to go ahead with the long-rumored hotel, the Muvico theater would close and the top floor of Jillian's entertainment center would become part of the hotel, Belz said.
Jillian's would use that opportunity to reconfigure its space on the lower two levels and try to increase its visibility from the street, especially Second Street, said Tyler Warfield, president of the Louisville, Ky.-based firm.
About 17,000 square feet of the 52,000-square-foot, three-story Jillian's is on the top floor, he said.
"If the (hotel) plan falls through, we would stay in our current space," Warfield said.
The Peabody folks aren't sure how many rooms might go into the suite hotel, he said.
"The space is built for retail and there are physical issues we're trying to explore because of the columns and the space configuration," Belz said.
The stores and restaurants that occupied most of the second level are gone, except for two.
Walson's jewelry store will close at the end of this month, said Karim Valiani, the manager.
The family-owned business may move to another location, but that won't be decided until mid-March, he said.
Sports Avenue, which sells athletic apparel and other items with college and professional team names and logos, will close in May, said Jeff Collins, president of the Rock Island, Ill.-based company.
The firm had hoped to move the store to another spot in Peabody Place but couldn't work that out.
"We weren't doing that well there," Collins said.
A spokesman for Muvico did not return a phone call on Wednesday.
In November 2006, Muvico closed eight of its 22 screens in the theater citing low ticket sales.
When contacted in January about the theater's future, Michael J. Whalen, president and chief executive officer of Muvico said, "We have no current plans to close the theater. We will continue to work with Belz to potentially downsize the theater and potentially bring more amenities to the theater including a VIP concept with reserved seating and bar."
Andy Groveman, vice president of Belz Enterprises, could not be reached for comment.
Last summer, as retailers continued to close shops in Peabody Place, Belz officials said they were negotiating with national retailers about opening outlet stores and looking at more traditional businesses.
Contact David Flaum at 529-2330. To read more stories by this reporter, go to commercialappeal.com, click on Contact Us at the top of the home page and then click on the reporter's name.
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NTR: Peabody Place may try suites; Plan would remodel top two levels, close Muvico
