The groundbreaking participants were (l to r) David Phillips, vice president of R/C Theatres; Todd Morgan, St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners (District 4); Scott Cohen, R/C Theatres; Larry Maykrantz, President, St. John Properties and Robin Finnacom, acting director of St. Mary’s County Department of Economic Development
California, MD — There will be a new 12-screen theater in Southern Maryland sometime next year. Ground was broken Wednesday for the 45,000-square-foot R/C Theatres at the new Lexington Exchange shopping center in California across from the Wildewood Center. The theater is the first tenant of the shopping center.
Scott Cohen, president of the small Maryland based chain R/C Theatres, told the Bay Net that the theater would be state-of-the-art, with stadium seating. Based on weather and other variables, he hopes to have a grand opening in late spring or early summer.
Cohen said the theater would have free movies for kids twice a week during the summer to get them interested in the theater experience.
R/C Theatres was started by Cohen’s parents in Baltimore and they expanded by buying a chain of move houses in Virginia, many in small towns.
Bill Holton, vice president of leasing for the shopping center developer St. John Properties of Baltimore, said the company targeted the theater chain because they were neighbors in Baltimore and there had been interest expressed by the community in having a new movie theater. Commissioner Todd Morgan was credited with pushing the issue.
Holton noted that the shopping center project was halted due to the recession.
Andrew Rout, the developer’s representative during the regulatory process in St. Mary’s, credited Department of Land Use and Growth Management staff for helping to move it through the process. He said of St. Mary’s, “It doesn’t feel like Maryland,” putting in a dig at the state’s anti-business reputation.
County Commissioner candidate Bob Schaller, who was also at the groundbreaking, sent out an email crediting former commissioner Dan Raley with initiating the push to bring in the theater while Schaller was director of the Department of Economic and Community Development. The email said, “Please contact Dan Raley who in 2008 directed me to find a new theater (after unsuccessful attempts with reinvestment options for the AMC theater). Around the same time, St. John Properties had purchased Oak Crest and presented county staff with a mixed-use concept plan including Home Depot as an anchor plus other retail up front, flex space in the back, and even a hotel. It was very ambitious but the site is a PUD and all were allowable uses.
“Knowing Commissioner Raley’s (and the community’s) wishes I asked them to include a movie theater. The retail mgr. for St. John said they’d consider the request. Within 3 or 4 months he came back with 6 letters of intent, but pointed out one that he felt strongly about. It was R/C Theaters, a Maryland company. He then arranged a visit to Reading, PA to see a new 11-screen R/C multiplex with an I-Max screen. Commissioner Raley and I went and it was incredible. We came back very excited but R/C had received city and state assistance (as much as 40%) for the Reading project. We tried to secure assistance here, particularly tax incentives but it wasn’t to happen. This project would need to wait for better economic conditions.
“Today is a great day, 5yrs later. Ironically, the theater wasn’t even on the original concept plan yet it is the first project to go forward. That’s the nature of development. You must always be ready.
“Not to take anything away from the good work of the current commissioner board and staff (particularly Phil Shire and LUGM who deserve most of the credit in getting this to today) it was Dan Raley who was the catalyst many years ago.”
The Lexington Exchange venue represents the tenth location of the movie theatre management company that currently operates 72 screens throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia.
Lexington Exchange is configured to support nearly 350,000 square feet of flex office space combined with opportunities for “big-box” retail uses and complementary retailers.
