Cinema Café coming to Obici Place

Published 7:21 pm Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Movie lovers can rejoice.

Cinema Café is coming to Obici Place and will fill a void in Suffolk’s entertainment options, especially in the central part of the city, but its opening is still about three years out.

The Suffolk Economic Development Authority, following a closed session Wednesday, entered into a sales agreement with Cinema Café for the company to build a movie theater, restaurant and bar on the former Obici Hospital site at 1900 N. Main St.

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The incentives, according to Economic Development Director Kevin Hughes, are for $120,000 when Cinema Café receives its certificate of occupancy, and then $30,000 for each of the next three years through the city’s Economic Development Investment Program.

The EDIP grants come from local funds and are based on capital investment and job creation, and administered through the EDA.

Preliminary plans call for Cinema Café to build a seven- or eight-screen, 35,000-square-foot movie theater with more than 700 reclining seats, Hughes said, with a working restaurant and full bar. The Suffolk Cinema Café would likely be a variation of the Chesapeake complex, Hughes said.

Cinema Café is currently building in Chesterfield County, in the Richmond suburbs, and would not start building in Suffolk until that project is complete, Hughes said. According to the Cinema Café website, the complex in Chesterfield County is slated for an opening sometime this year.

“One of the things that we’ve tried to do with Obici Place is make sure that we’re listening to the citizens around here,” Hughes said. “There’s been a lot of engagement. We’ve had a lot of restrictions about what can and can’t go into the site. And also, we’ve heard the cry loud and clear that entertainment is really of interest in the central part of the city.”

The city has been courting Cinema Café for the central region of the city for about eight years, Hughes said. Construction would likely begin before summer 2021, and the project is expected to be completed by fall 2022, Hughes said.

“We’re hoping to see them operating by the end of 2022,” Hughes said.

The only movie theater complex in Suffolk is a Regal Cinemas in the northern part of the city in Harbour View.

Cinema Café was the user the city has targeted and, Hughes said, was a long time in the making.

“We think they’re the right user,” Hughes said. “We like that they’re locally owned (and) operated. It’s finally coming to fruition.”