Thursday, Jul. 03, 2008

New Manager: Leak Caused Cinema Bricks to Slip

By Scott Price

Staff Writer

Last week as officials were announcing that Colleyville’s Metro Cinema will reopen in mid-August under new management, a large portion of bricks on the front wall of the theater slid down several inches placing additional weight on a steel support above a window of the Austin Lorin clothing store next door, shattering the window.

Mark Schulman, of Shulman Partners, the theater’s new manager, said Monday that the slippage was caused by a water leak, and that no structural damage was involved. A large number of bricks have been removed, Schulman said, to get to the leak.

City spokeswoman Mona Gandy said the city would have no comment on the damage until a structural engineer’s "determination" on the cause of the damage.

Austin Lorin had to close for a week because of the damage. Jennifer Gomez, who owns Austin Lorin with her husband, Austin Gomez, said the window broke at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 26.

"We had a store full of customers, and police and fire came and evacuated the store," she said.

"We were fortunate that nobody was hurt and the wall did not fall," Gomez said.

Over the weekend, a construction company removed the bricks and hauled them away from the parking lot. A structural engineer is looking at the building and will report the findings, city officials said.

Metro Cinema, which includes an IMAX screen, closed Jan. 18 when the previous operator, MC Colleyville, filed for bankruptcy.

Schulman Partners plans to reopen the cinema on Aug. 15 and eventually purchase the property from Charles Hodges Architectural Engineering, which owns the property now in conjunction with a bank. The property has been valued at $8.5 million. Schulman operates other theaters in Texas in Weatherford, Georgetown and Austin. The Colleyville theater, which includes a restaurant, will be called Colleyville Cinema Grill and IMAX Theater.

Schulman said he is not worried about the condition of the building.

"I have gotten several calls from people asking me if the building is falling down," he said with a chuckle. "The building is not falling down. They took down the bricks as a precautionary measure and the wall will be rebuilt."

Schulman said the wall will be rebricked this month.

City officials said close neighbors have seen a reduction in traffic.

City officials are pleased that the theater will reopen this summer.

"That brings more traffic into one of our major retail sectors, so obviously it is a good thing," Gandy said.