September 26, 2017
A game-changing facet of the soon-to-be Fashion District Philadelphia is now in place with plans set for an AMC multiplex theater at the former site of The Gallery at Market East.
A spokesperson for PREIT and Macerich, the two companies behind the Center City redevelopment project, said AMC is a confirmed tenant for the reimagining of East Market Street — a retail corridor recently dubbed the hottest in the United States.
Details about the eight-screen multiplex theater, first reported by the Inquirer, came via Dan Ellis, AMC's senior VP of domestic development.
Ellis said the venture into Center City is a sign of renewed interest in the growing population of urban cores, where theater chains believe they can capture audiences that would otherwise be left to retreat to their suburban strongholds.
Fashion District Philadelphia, an evolving project whose details have remained scarce, will closely follow the emergence of National Real Estate Development's East Market development. Hundreds of new apartments over the next few years will reinforce the downtown density that saw a 16 percent increase in Center City's population between 2000-2015.
The AMC multiplex, planned for the third floor of the former Gallery, will mark Philadelphia's first Center City movie theater since the Sameric Theatre (formerly the Boyd) closed in 2002. Features will reportedly include in-seat food deliveries, two premium auditoriums and a MacGuffin's Bar.
With a projected opening date in 2018, the only other new tenant confirmed for Fashion District Philadelphia is H&M. AMC's multiplex is expected to premiere in fall or winter of 2019.
