Construction of the new Laemmle Theatres location in Old Town Newhall is continuing despite rumors of the arthouse cinema chain being up for sale, officials said Monday.
“We’re continuing with the Newhall development,” said Greg Laemmle, president of the family-owned business, which has nine other locations across Southern California.
Laemmle said he “can’t comment on the story,” neither confirming nor denying speculation that the entity or portions of the business are up for sale. He referred to a Friday report by Deadline Hollywood, which also said that “it’s not clear whether it will be a portion or the entire 41-screen chain.”
The Laemmle Newhall project site, which broke ground in October for a two-story, seven-screen location with 500 seats, is located on the corner of Lyons Avenue and Railroad Avenue and adjacent to the mixed-used development Newhall Crossings and a multi-story parking structure.
The property is owned by Laemmle after entering into a sale agreement with the city of Santa Clarita in February 2016, through Laemmle’s single-purpose entity Laemmle Newhall LLC.
On Monday, the city did not have any information regarding the reports of a potential sale and its relation to the Newhall development, according to City Communications Manager Carrie Lujan.
While the theaters were expected for completion by this summer, wet weather conditions during the winter have pushed back the project to open sometime by the end of the year or early 2020, according to Laemmle.
“We have some delays with the mixed-use project that were brought by rain and we can’t open until the central courtyard is finished,” he said. “There’s no delay on our hold. We want the theater to open as fast as possible.”
Crews worked on foundation work through April and quickly moved toward vertical construction, setting up steel beams, which are taking form as the bones of the structure.
The theaters will be connected to Newhall Crossings, a mixed-use space with 20,000 square feet of retail, 47 residential units and a 372-stall public parking structure, via a central courtyard.
The developers, Serrano Development Group, were unavailable for comment Monday with the latest on Newhall Crossings. President Jason Tolleson said in April the project would undergo interior work in the coming months and was also expected to open by the end of 2019 or early 2020.
