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Deal could mean end for Capitol multiplex; art house format for University Heights

An aging Victoria multiplex will likely fade to black following Empire Company Ltd.’s announcement Thursday that it’s getting out of the movie-theatre business to focus on Sobeys, its grocery unit.
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Empire Capitol 6 on Blanshard Street will stay in operation for now.

An aging Victoria multiplex will likely fade to black following Empire Company Ltd.’s announcement Thursday that it’s getting out of the movie-theatre business to focus on Sobeys, its grocery unit.

Andrew Walker, spokesman for the Nova Scotia-based company that owns Thrifty Foods, said its Empire Capitol 6 multiplex at Yates and Blanshard streets, which opened in 1981, will run “as-is” for now.

Empire is keeping the six-screen Capitol, which is not on the market, until it can “realize the real estate value of that property over time,” he said.

Empire’s four-screen University Heights cinema, at Shelbourne Street and McKenzie Avenue in Saanich, is being sold to Landmark Cinemas.

Neil Campbell, chief operating officer of Landmark, said the Calgary-based company that once operated the Vic Theatre welcomed the chance to return to Victoria.

“It’s a very unique market. You’ve got a very dynamic city,” Campbell said. Landmark will likely bring in more art pictures — movies outside the mainstream — to University Heights once it’s rebranded. “Landmark has more experience in the art business so we’ll have a wider palette to choose from.”

The Saanich multiplex is one of 20 Empire theatres in Ontario and Western Canada sold to Landmark in a multifaceted deal worth about $55 million.

Canada’s largest cinema company, Cineplex Inc., will pay $200 million cash to acquire 26 of Empire’s theatres, including all 24 in Atlantic Canada and two in Ontario.

In Victoria, the announcement fuelled speculation over the future of the Capitol 6 site.

Developer David Chard, whose projects include the Sovereign and Juliet condominium complexes, owns the parking lot at 819 Yates St., behind the Capitol 6. “Anything we have planned would not involve theatres,” said Wendy Pryde, sales manager for Chard Developments.

Cineplex declined to acquire the Capitol 6 because it already has a strong Greater Victoria presence with its downtown multiplex the Odeon, as well as its SilverCity and Westshore cinemas, said Pat Marshall, vice-president of communications and investor relations.

Industry analyst Howard Lichtman of Toronto’s the Lightning Group said Empire’s sell-off makes sense. “It has nothing to do with the viability of the movie theatre business,” he said. “It allows them to free up cash to pay down debt.” Empire’s Sobeys unit recently agreed to buy Canada Safeway.

Lichtman said it makes sense for Empire to operate its theatres “even minimally” until its real estate can be sold.

All theatres will continue to run under the Empire brand until the Competition Bureau considers the deal.

mreid@timescolonist.com