TRAVERSE CITY -- Jerry Snowden plans to liven up the west end of downtown with a movie theater, restaurants and river walkway.
The attractions are proposed for Snowden's 140,000-square-foot, mixed-use RiverWest Development at the corner of West Front and Pine streets.
The project is projected to create 175 new jobs and generate $33 million in new capital investment. It's slated to receive $7.2 million in brownfield tax credits and state and local tax capture.
Snowden said he's close to finalizing arrangements for a multi-screen cinema, and is considering restaurants for the site.
An elevated walkway will connect to the sidewalk on Front Street and run along the Boardman River with restaurants offering outdoor dining.
"The river will be a big focal point of the project," Snowden said.
The cinema should be "complimentary" to the single-screen State Theatre just down the road, Snowden said.
The 92-year-old State Theatre reopened for daily operation last November. It shows mostly independent, foreign, classic and other films not available at most mainstream movie houses.
"I think these cinemas will be no real competition for the State Theatre," said Bryan Crough, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. "These are movie theaters that would end up in a suburban location, and I'm pleased it's a company that's interested in downtown locations."
But Traverse City Film Festival founder Michael Moore isn't enthused to see another movie house downtown. The festival owns and operates the State Theatre.
"Movie theaters are good. But does downtown need two movie theaters? It couldn't sustain even one theater until recently," Moore wrote in an e-mail to the Record-Eagle. "The last time a developer built a multi-plex cinema here, it killed the State Theatre. We'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Mayor Michael Estes had a different take on Snowden's project.
"There's the advantage of bringing more entertainment to Traverse City," Estes said. "Not only would it bring people just for that theater and those restaurants, but also for the rest of downtown."
Snowden hopes to begin construction in 2009.
"We're excited to tie this project into the Warehouse District," he said.
He wouldn't provide additional details because the project is still in the early stages of design and development.
The Boardman River divides Snowden's development from the city's burgeoning Warehouse District, but the city plans to build a bridge across the river from the north side of Front Street to Garland Street.
Bridge construction should begin in the spring.
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