Soon movie goers in Barrow County will not have to go elsewhere to check out the latest big screen features.
Carmike Cinemas, Inc. announced Tuesday it will be working with Combs & Bartlett, LLC, based out of Winder, to build a 12-screen theatre with 2,328 seats.
The theatre will be located on Exchange Boulevard at the new Gateway at University Parkway project in Bethlehem. It is scheduled to open in late 2011.
The new cinema will be located on the north side of University Parkway (Hwy. 316) near the intersection of Hwy. 81. The arrangement will feature a new Carmike state-of- the art entertainment complex, a news release from the company said.
Amenities for the new 45,000-square foot 12-plex will include stadium style, high-back seating throughout the entire complex.
“Barrow County is now large enough for its own state of the art movie theater, and I believe this is the missing piece of the puzzle that will bring more of the quality restaurants we’ve all been waiting for,” said Wayne Bartlett, project manager of Combs & Bartlett, LLC, and Broker of Maynard & Bartlett Realty Group, LLC. “The area residents will be able to go to movies, eat at their favorite restaurant and shop at their favorite retailers without traveling to the Gwinnett or Athens area. I believe this new Carmike Cinema will be the catalyst that will get our local economy back on the right path. New jobs, associated with the theater and future restaurants, are much needed. This is a big deal for our community.”
The theatre will feature wall-to-wall screens, with projection powered by DLP DIGITAL technology which produces 35 trillion colors delivering the sharpest and most pristine picture available anywhere.
The theatre will include state-of-the-art DIGITAL 3-D capability from Real-D technology.
“Carmike Cinemas is delighted to be coming to the Barrow County market,” said Carmike President and CEO David Passman. “We have found a partner who has the ability to build a new state of the art entertainment complex for The Gateway at University Parkway project.
“We are very excited about working with David and the entire Carmike team,” said Rich Combs, managing partner of Combs & Bartlett, LLC. “Barrow County has been longing for entertainment, and we know the Barrow County community and surrounding areas will fully support this project.”
I would still rather go to Gwinnett/Hamilton Mill than through downtown Winder and out the other side......
Winder has a few decent things (like the bookstore), but nothing is "moving out." They're skipping over.
The longer people deny this, the harder it will be to correct.
We do have some retail, but not enough to take on thousands of people going to see movies. There's hundreds of people coming and going at any given time of day.
Winder's streets and sidewalks don't have the physical capacity to support a competitive movie theater's customers.
Barrow Crossing will when new stores and developments follow this theater. The capacity just wasn't there in 2002 and 2004.
Barrow Crossing has just lacked foot traffic needed to entice tenants to move in. People already had one of everything there closer to home. But this will be the only movie theater in Barrow.