Coming Attractions at the Cinerama – Including New Management

As you’ve recently heard, the Seattle Cinerama Theatre is now closed for a multimillion dollar renovation. Breathe easy, though… it’s scheduled to reopen in November.

Philanthropist and Seattle native son Paul Allen’s plans are to bring this beloved 808-seat landmark into the 21^st century. This will include a new feature film screen, state-of-the-art digital sound, and 3-D viewing abilities. Plans are also in the works to do interior and exterior refurbishing.   While all of this is big news, of course, we find the more intriguing part to be an upcoming change of leadership.  Management company AMC Entertainment, Inc. has been replaced with a new management agreement under Greg Wood, owner and operator of the Roseway Theater in Portland.

 Wood was raised in Los Angeles, the grandson of a film editor and son of a director of Sony’s engineering department. After graduating from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, he decided to stay and keep up the family tradition in the Northwest instead. The first movie venue he operated was the Liberty, a vintage movie theater in Camas, on the Washington side of the Columbia River across from Portland. But while he enjoyed great success at the Liberty, Wood desired to have his own theater. The Roseway became available in early 2008.

Wood restored the Roseway’s  original art-deco decor and invested in state-of-the-art projection and sound equipment.  While most theaters would have been butchered into smaller screens, Wood kept the 500-seat auditorium intact, with 330 seats set up for maximum legroom. The upgrades made it easy for him to book major films from “Batman” to “Up” to “Avatar”. And, for those of you who enjoy great cuisine, the Roseway is reported to have some of the best movie popcorn in town.

He should work well with Allen, who grew up attending Seattle Cinerama movies. When rumors in the late 90’s arose that the Cinerama might be turned into a rock-climbing club– or even a parking lot– he bought the venue.  A full interior/exterior renovation began in June 1998, and the Cinerama reopened in full glory and to much applause in April 1999.

The Seattle Cinerama Theatre is one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panel Cinerama films. We’ll keep you posted on the reopening.

70th Annual First Citizen Award Honoring Paul Allen

On Thursday, October 30th, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors will be honoring Paul Allen for his “unwavering commitment to nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest and lifetime giving approaching $1 billion.” The co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of Vulcan, Inc. has influenced our region to be one of the most desired places in the country to live and work.

The gala banquet will be held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel on 6th Avenue. Tickets are $125 per person, or $1,100 for a table of 10. You can register here, or come back to our blog and find a link on the right of our page under “Events.”

Allen’s contributions include:

• Donated $18 million to build a new library addition at the University of Washington.
• Created the Kenneth S. Allen Library Endowment Fund
• Lead donors to the Seattle Public Library Foundation and contributed $22.5 million toward the construction of the new downtown library.
• Donated $5 million to establish the Faye G. Allen Center for Visual Arts.
• Launched foundations to focus specifically on the arts, medical research, and broad range of health and human service needs.
• Formed The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, consolidating six previous foundations; The Allen Foundation for the Arts, The Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation, The Paul G. Allen Foundation for Medical Research, The Paul G. Allen Forest Protection Foundation, The Allen Foundation for Music, and The Paul G. Allen Virtual Education Foundation.
• Awarded grants to nearly 1,600 diverse nonprofit groups to support and advance their critical charitable endeavors in the Pacific Northwest.
• Founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc. and chairman of Charter Communications.
• Funded SpaceShipOne which was the first privately-funded effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space and winer of the Ansari X-Prize competition.
• Owner of the Seattle Seahawks NFL and Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchises, and is part of the primary ownership group for Seattle’s new Major League Soccer team.
• Currently active in the redevelopment of more than 60 acres in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
• Founder of the Experience Museum and Hall of Fame, as well as with Vulcan Productions.
• Commited to $100 million in seed money dedicated to brain research and unveiled the creation of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.

Allen is bar far one of the most deserving recipients of the First Citizen award! Learn more about Paul Allen and his contributions by information compiled by the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors.

“The best advice I’ve received came many years ago from my father. He told me that you should love whatever work you do, you should try to find something you truly enjoy. And I’ve been lucky through the years that the work I’ve been involved with has been challenging and for the most part, fun.”

– Paul Allen

Excitement of South Lake Union Continues to Grow

It seems as though the South Lake Union neighborhood has dominated the public’s interest in newspaper headlines. In just the last week alone, there were four updates featured in the Seattle Times and Post Intelligencer regarding economic and ecological progress. Here’s a peek at what’s the beginning of the S.L.U. boom.

• The new streetcar began operating at 12:12pm on 12-12-07. It was automobiles that were originally the death of the streetcar in the 1940’s. With the expectation of 12,000 new jobs and 6,000 new homes to be built in the neighborhood, the streetcar will help cut back on fuel usage and congestion.

• Speaking of fuel usage, another recent announcement was made stating that Propel Biofuels will open it’s flagship gas station on the corner of Westlake Avenue and Valley Street. The station will not have attendants, convenience store or even pumps. Customers will serve themselves and the landscaping will include canola, camilina, switch grass and soybeans. All of which ingredients to make biodiesel fuel.

• The media also announced the recent approval given to Vulcan, Paul Allen’s development company, to construct three 160′ buildings for the new (presumed) Amazon.com headquarters. Not only will the new location for Amazon drive a speculated 4,000 new jobs to the neighborhood, the City Counsel Panel also insured money would be allocated to affordable housing.

• On Friday, the new footbridge was installed at South Lake Union Park which connects people to the new streetcar station. The 12-acre park is planned to include parking, boardwalk, model boat pond and lush landscaping.

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Available real estate investments in the booming neighborhood include:

2200 Westlake
Enso at 2201 Westlake
Rollin Street Flats
Veer Lofts
Equinox