The theater is hoping for zoning board approval later this summer.
The Amherst Cinema is hoping to set up a fourth screen in space occupied by M & M Links.AMHERST -- The Amherst Cinema Center Arts Center intends to open a fourth screen in a space near the theater to be able to show more films.
Theater staff will be presenting plans to the Zoning Board of Appeals Aug. 23. Once approved, making renovations to accommodate the new theater shouldn’t take long said Carol M. Johnson, the arts center's executive director.
The new screen is being planned in the space occupied by M&M Links, a retail shop in the original Amherst Cinema building that connects to the cinema building.
That shop will move to smaller space, Johnson said.
“We need more screens in Amherst,” she said.
The decision to expand was unrelated to the closing of Pleasant Street Theatre in Northampton earlier this year. Pleasant Street, home to two screens, was managed by Amherst Cinema.
“We would have done it anyway. We were on the look out for additional screening space,” Johnson said of the planned Amherst expansion.
Johnson said she was talking to developer Barry L. Roberts, who built the cinema and who owns the former Amherst Cinema building, and he mentioned that
M&M, which sells jewelry and accessories, needed only a small space and their shop would be available.
Johnson said that space is close to the box office and well-suited for a conversion to a theater space. “It’s easily convertible to showing films. We really need only a modest amount of retro fitting,” Johnson said.
This shop at 28 Amity St. could be the site of a new screen for the nearby Amherst Cinema.Johnson said it will be an "eclectic space, comfortable and will expand our film offering."
She said they will be able to screen “small gems, films you really wouldn’t be able to show.”
The nonprofit will not have to engage in any fundraising for the project, which Johnson described as "very low-cost."
People will be able to purchase tickets at the current box office and be able to buy concessions as well. Patrons, however, will not be able to buy beer or wine and carry it into the new theater. The beer and wine license covers only the existing theater space, Johnson said.
The Zoning Board of Appeals needs to examine the management plan because the use of the building is changing from retail, she said.
Johnson said that while Netflix, On-Demand and other home film services offer competition to the cinema's business, attendance has been strong.
“We are selling out frequently,” she said, adding that membership has grown to 2,500 -- half way toward a goal of 5,000. The cinema draws its audiences from about a 25-mile radius of the theater.
“It’s Valley based,” Johnson said. “As long as people want to come the theater, we will be here.”
The three-screen theater opened in 2006.