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14-screen theater OK'd for Carolina Beach Road
12/01/2008
A bit of movie magic will finally be coming to southern New Hanover County after several false starts.
The county commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a request by Atlantis Holdings to build a 14-screen movie theater along Carolina Beach Road near St. Andrews Drive as part of the Belle-Meade development.
It was the second time for the mixed-use project and the third time overall that a multiplex had been proposed for the stretch of busy roadway between Monkey Junction and Independence Boulevard.
Wilmington attorney Matt Nichols, speaking on behalf of Atlantis, said the proposed rezoning was more a tweaking of what’s already approved than an expansion.
This was the second time developer Matthew DiGioia had proposed a multiplex for Belle Meade.
The first time, in 2004, the proposal was rejected by the commissioners after residents expressed concern about traffic, especially late-night theater traffic, overwhelming their neighborhoods.
The only person who spoke in opposition Monday again expressed concern about increased traffic, specifically on Pine Hollow Drive. More than two dozen residents of the street, which connects to the eastern edge of the project, also submitted a petition contending the theater could damage their neighborhood’s quality of life.
But the commissioners said they thought traffic-controlling measures already installed or proposed by the developer, including a new three-way stop along Pine Hollow, would ease the traffic impact.
Currently the only movie theater in New Hanover south of Oleander Drive is a four-screen cinema in Carolina Beach.
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By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:54 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:01 p.m.
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