Movie theater reels to roll in Ruston
Nancy Bergeron / Ruston Bureau
Posted on January 25, 2003
RUSTON - The silver screen is coming back to Ruston.
Marquee Cinemas plans to build a movie theater somewhere in the city, but they're not sure where. The Beckley, W.Va.-based company is looking at two sites, including the long-empty former Wal-Mart building on the south Interstate 20 service road.
Ruston hasn't had a movie theater since 1999, forcing show-goers to drive to West Monroe, Bossier City or farther to take in the latest releases - and they take their money with them.
In the year 2000, Lincoln Parish residents spent $2 million on movie tickets alone, according to a study of out-of-town spending done by a Louisiana Tech University business class. Theater proponents say much of that money, plus more, will stay here once the cinema opens.
Marquee's Ruston location will be the company's first Louisiana site, Dave Beauregard, Marquee's real estate director, said Friday. The theater is expected to lure several restaurants and possibly other retailers here.
"AppleBee's wants to come very badly," said Ruston Main Street Manager Judy Burt, who also handles downtown development for the city. "They want to locate somewhere around (the theater)."
Beauregard said three eateries are looking at the city. He would not name them.
He said official announcement of Marquee's coming should be made in February.
The 24-year-old company has 10 theaters with 77 screens in West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Connecticut and Alabama. Though Beauregard would not disclose any details of the pending Ruston venue pending finalization of the project, Burt said the theater could have up to eight screens.
It was Ruston resident Dean Norton who helped the city connect to Marquee. Norton and his family visited a Marquee theater while on vacation in Glasgow, Ky., a town of just over 13,000. If a municipality smaller than Ruston, and without a university could support a theater, "why couldn't one function in Ruston?" Norton wondered.
According to Marquee's web site, the Glasgow theater has seven screens with total seating capacity of 1,631.
The prospect of a local theater "brings a lot of energy with it that things can change in Ruston, that positive things can happen," Norton said. "It's just part of revitalizing our city."
Movie theaters have been part of Ruston's history. Until the old Village Cinema closed four years ago, various theaters had been in constant operation here for 85 years. The Village Cinema building and the shopping center on West California Avenue in which it sat have since been leveled.
Beauregard said Marquee's decision to come to Ruston stems from "the fact that you don't have a theater there today."
He said Ruston voters' decision last year to give restaurants the ability to sell high-alcohol content beverages with meals helped influence the company's decision.
"We knew that if the referendum passed, the restaurants will come," he said.
Both merchants and developers say the theater will help boost local tax revenue.
"The biggest thing for Ruston is it will keep our tax dollars here," Burt said, "and it will provide the entertainment we've been looking for."
She said the city could also become a "destination point" for residents of outlying areas.
"It will just be so much more convenient for people and it will keep them spending their money here," downtown merchant Margaret Nolan said.
And because going to the show for Nolan is "an impulse thing," she said she might get to see a few films.
Burt said the pending development is "huge" for Ruston.
"This is not going to change what Ruston is," she said, "It's just going to make it better."
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