Theater may be a star in mall’s renaissance
The hurricane-damaged theater sat vacant for five years, a symbol of the woeful state of Sharpstown Mall even as efforts grew to bring the community back to the ailing retail space.
But as the mall, rechristened PlazAmericas Shopping Center after a $10 million capital infusion, continues its steady rebound, the theater could soon be a sunnier, shinier example.
The remodeled 42,500-square-foot Viva Cinema, complete with adjacent cantina and a colorful entertainment center, opens May 31. Developers hope it will speed up momentum at PlazAmericas.
Mickey Altman, CEO of Viva Cinema, said he and partner Art Seago have been working for about nine months to bring the theater up to code, repairing broken walls and leaking roofs. The theater, like the rest of PlazAmericas, aims to appeal to the diverse but mostly Latino community in the area around the mall.
“We hope to be the impetus to revitalize PlazAmericas,” Altman said. “La gente, our
people, are important to us. We will be part of the fabric of this community.”
The new eight-screen theater, with auditoriums that have between 150 and 450 seats, will show a mix of first-run movies in English with Spanish subtitles, as well as popular films from Mexico, Spain, Brazil and Argentina in Spanish with English subtitles.
Neon lights glow above a concession stand stocked with Latinthemed menu items — aguas frescas, horchata, margaritas and pastries from local Mexican bakeries — in addition to traditional Americanstyle movie snacks.
Connected to the theater will be the 4,500-square-foot Viva Sports Cantina that will have a full bar and serve hamburgers, pizza, fajitas, tacos and other bar food. Special trays that lock into the theater chair arms will be provided so patrons can take their food and drinks from the cantina into the cinema.
An adjacent 4,500-square-foot party area can be rented for children’s or teenagers’ parties. It includes a piñata arena and is modeled after a successful party space in Mexico. Putting it all together
“There is no theater like this in the country,” Altman declared. “All these elements are available everywhere, (but) combining them in this way is what makes us unique.”
Viva Cinema fills a shuttered theater space that had already closed before Hurricane Ike damaged it in 2008. It is part of a $10 million makeover that began in 2010. S . G
PlazAmericas es s n er Westpark
Tollway
Since 1998, Sharpstown Mall had lost three department stores and a major furniture store and had declared bankruptcy. By 2010, only one vendor was still operating in the food court.
The rebranded PlazAmericas was given a red, green and orange logo inspired by Mesoamerican calendars. It’s grown in the last three years to about 80 percent occupancy from 40 percent, Justin Segal of Boxer Property Management said.
Boxer’s Grupo Zocalo subsidiary manages the nearly 200,000-squarefoot building. Local artists’ murals
The revamped mall also features murals painted by local artists, a display documenting the “History of the Low Rider” that includes an actual example of one of the customized cars, and a rainbow of colorful flags hanging from the ceiling.
Two mercados, primarily featuring local vendors selling everything from sports jerseys to flowers to food, have taken over the shells left vacant by Oshman’s Sporting Goods and J.C. Penney.
Some of the merchants have been so successful that they have been able to relocate their stores to permanent storefronts in the mall. That includes Maria Garcia, who moved Maria’s Gifts, which sells an assortment of home goods and decorative items.
Norma Palacios, a designer of bridal and quinceañera dresses, first opened Palacios Bridal in the mercado, and now occupies a 2,000-square-foot space in the main part of the mall. Several stores sell the embellished, colorful dresses for the traditional 15th birthday celebrations.
“The success of these operators is wonderful to see, not only because of the personal, Americandream element, but also because these entrepreneurs are so critical to the success of the area,” Segal said. Tacos and tortas
The food court is packed with mostly Latino food stands, such as taquerias and torta shops, rather than generic chains. The area also has an entertainment space where mariachi bands and others perform on weekends. A children’s play area with slides and tunnels is also near the food court.
The stores may not all be household names, but Segal said there has been growth on multiple levels at PlazAmericas, from the local entrepreneurs to strong sales from national stores, such as Foot Locker and Champs.
The Melrose department store returned to the mall after abandoning its spot in the former center. Segal said it is now one of the company’s top-producing stores.
The mall has a definite Latino flair, but Segal said the clientele is representative of the neighborhood’s “tremendous diversity.”
“We have given it an identity that it lost and relevance that it hadn’t had for some time,” he said. “It’s not just a shopping mall, it’s an experience.” Building connections
The new theater will also strive to connect with the community by posting art from local schools on its walls, hosting fundraisers for the local charity La Rosa Family Services, and recruiting employees from area high schools.
Seago said 45 of the 65 employees hired so far are students from Lee, Sharpstown and Sharpstown International high schools.
The owners also plan to have a free family movie each Tuesday night and hope to add an additional free movie on Sundays.
“If we wrap our arms around the community, they will wrap their arms around us,” Seago predicted.
Altman and Seago plan to debut an independent film by a Houston producer, who was born in El Salvador, at the grand opening.
The movie, about an undocumented immigrant, is titled “The Dreamer.”
“We aren’t the Neiman Marcus of movie theaters. We want to serve our neighborhood,” Altman said. “This is a redeveloped area. This mall has a storied past, with ups and downs just like Houston’s economy has had.” erin.mulvaney@chron.com twitter.com/erinmulvaney