Beacon Cinema Plans New Screen in Marketplace Cafe

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Owners of the Beacon Cinema say it's the most popular facility in their network and plan to add a seventh screen in the former Marketplace Cafe.

Last week, the Community Development Board waived transparency requirements for 47-57 North St., which is located within the Downtown Creative District. 

The Beacon, owned by Phoenix Theatres, plans to build a smaller movie theater in the abutting property: the longtime Marketplace Cafe, which closed earlier this year.

"When we went to Pittsfield and really got involved in this that many years ago, I don't know what our hopes and dreams and aspirations were, but it's all been met," said Cory Jacobson, president of Phoenix Theatres told the board. "Pittsfield has been just a wonderful investment for us, and I think a real cornerstone for our company generally."

Because of demand, parent company Phoenix Theatres did not seek another retail tenant in the space, rather deciding it was worth expanding the cinema instead. 

It will be a smaller, 1,200-square-foot theater with 32 seats. Jacobson, who owns the Kinnell-Kresge building, said it will help address the theater's busier times and allow it to bring in a variety of films he couldn't before.

"It's the busiest theater we have right now, and if we can expand that, that's going to significantly improve our business there, and also be able to meet the needs of the customers," he told iBerkshires.

"I mean, the theater sold out in quite a bit of time, and also you're just going to have more variety of films throughout the year. And I think the opportunity to be the hub for Berkshire County — I think you'll bring a lot of people there from the surrounding areas to watch films if we're offering them, and that's kind of what our goal is currently." 

The new theater will be accessed from the existing Beacon Cinema lobby, near the bathrooms. 

Jacobson said the Beacon has the most frequent seat occupancy in the company, and he would have 10 screens if it were possible. The theater seats have been reupholstered twice because of wear and tear. 

"I think that the Beacon has become a beacon for our company. I mean, we have a matrix where we say how many times a seat is sat in, and it is the highest number of seats sat in the whole company," Jacobson said.

"So a seat is sat at more than any other theater we have per-chair in the building, and part of the reason for that is just the popularity of the theater and also the capacity of the other auditoriums are relatively small."

Phoenix Theatres has 10 cinemas and just opened one at Foxborough's Gillette Stadium.

The cafe's glass storefront will be backed by a movie-themed display and will no longer have a pedestrian entrance from the street, triggering the need for the Community Development Board's approval. Pittsfield's Downtown Creative District requires 75 percent of ground-floor storefronts on a primary street to be transparent.

"We want to actually create a wall that's about seven feet or so back from the glass that separates the storefront from the theater space itself, and then use that front storefront space as a display space for the theater itself, so we don't want to abandon the actual storefront and block it off," architect Michael Valenti said.

"We'd like to continue to leave it used for the display of maybe posters or other cinema-related art and features, maybe seasonal displays, things of that nature, and that would be access from the street side to install these types of displays."

There was some pushback from board members, who mourned the loss of an active storefront on Pittsfield's main street. 

Board member Matthew Herzberg opposes the project, but with the approval resting on his vote, he deferred to the majority.

"I think this is a mistake, but if my other fellow board members in attendance tonight believe that this is a good idea, I will go along with it," he said.

"I don't need to be a one-man obstruction of this."

Board member Gary Levante was "not excited" about the proposal because the intent of the DCD is to protect ground-level retail storefronts and to incentivize that type of development downtown. On the other hand, he recognizes that the business has been popular and the adjacent space is empty.

"I don't think it's the type of development that I want to be incentivizing, but given the state of things, I think I would be OK with it," he said.

Board members Elizabeth "Libby" Herland and Katie Soules pointed to the additional foot traffic that a larger cinema will bring.

"I think eliminating that storefront, another storefront is definitely not a positive for me, but another 'for lease sign' for three, four years, that's a negative for me," Soules said.

"So I think making this a space a great display, with the look of downtown, the foot traffic that you're going to bring in, I think will be a positive. Because if this space sits empty for who knows how long, it's going to be a detriment, and there's already enough space on North Street, in my opinion, that they could definitely move into. I'm not totally happy about it, but I think having it empty for however long is more negative." 

Jordan Hohman, Phoenix Theatres' vice president of project development, said they have seen attendance grow since occupying the space in 2018, with an average of 165,000 annual guests over the past three years; potentially 200,000 guests annually with the seventh screen. It will also bring another movie option.

"What we found is that with a six-screen complex, we find that we get jammed up pretty quickly when it comes to new movie releases," Hohman said. "Now they're releasing more and more movies every year, and particularly when you get to the holiday season, there are movies that we have to forego or open late in Pittsfield because of the restriction of the six screens." 

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