Beverly Cinemas
910 Meijer Drive, Champaign, Illinois
Opened December 15, 1995
Sold May 2005
Beverly Cinemas photo by Perry C. Morris
A front-page story by J. Philip Bloomer in The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette of Wednesday, 1 February 1995, revealed that the Atkins Group, developers of the old Faucett Farm properties in north Champaign, had been approached by a not-yet-publicly named “national firm” interested in opening a 12-screen theater complex. 1
The complex was being planned for a six-acre tract west of Prospect Avenue and north of the soon-to-be-opened Meijer grocery store north of Interstate 74. The theater owner’s decision to build in that location would be contingent on the city’s approval of amendments to the Atkins Group’s annexation agreement on the land that involve landscape buffering and signage provisions. City staff was recommending approval of the agreement by the plan commission and city council. 1
The addition of twelve new screens would bring the total number to 43. Thomas Guback, a University of Illinois Institute for Communications Research professor and a WILL film critic, and Richard Leskosky, a UI assistant professor of cinema studies and News-Gazette film critic both expressed a bit of skepticism at the high number, thinking that the 31 current screens were likely enough for the market if not too many. They observed that “more screens would likely not mean more variety of films, just more places to see the same ones. At any one time they estimated that half or more of the films on the existing 31 screens are duplicated in town. They did note that a possible advantage could be that new releases might get here sooner. 1
Mark Dixon, of the Atkins Group, said the theater company had done extensive market research before deciding to build and approaching Atkins. 1 “The growth of the North Prospect corridor, the proximity of two interstates and the potential for a new Interstate 57 interchange were factors in the decision.” 2
The next day, J. Philip Bloomer wrote in The News-Gazette: “The George Kerasotes Corporation theater chain likes Champaign so much the company hopes to put 12 more screens here by Thanksgiving.” Roger Ford, executive vice president of purchasing and contracting for GKC confirmed the company was making plans for another local theater complex to be located north of the new Meijer store off North Prospect Avenue. Ford went on to say “We’ve been talking about something like this for a number of years. We had the luxury of being the only game in town for a while. That’s no longer true, but we’re ready to move ahead.” 2
Excepting the single-screen, niche-market Art Theatre, there were two major players in the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy area market. GKC theatres, based in Springfield, Illinois, owns 16 of the 31 commercial screens while Goodrich Quality Theaters, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, owns the Savoy 14. 2
GKC had closed its two Urbana theaters, the Urbana Cinema and the Thunderbird, I the last quarter of 1994. “Ford said the two screens at the Cinema and the one at the Thunderbird weren’t profitable for the company. Theaters have to contract for films for a certain length of time. If one proves unpopular, the theater is stuck with it, plus overhead expenses, for the length of the contract. Multi-plexes don’t have those limitations.” 2
When questioned about changes planned for its other theaters, Ford said none were planned, but there were intentions to “use a different market approach” with Country Fair Cinemas. GKC’s other two Champaign theatres were the Coed Cinemas, in Campustown at 616 East Green Street, and the Market Place Cinemas, 2001 North Market Street. 2
Originally, the land where the proposed theater would sit was planned for use as offices, a transition between higher traffic business uses and residential. The change in use would include a rather large parking lot which made increased landscape buffering desirable. 3
GKC had initially wanted a 300-foot-square building sign -- about twice what’s allowed by city ordinance. The plan commission and GKC reached agreement on terms amending the original agreement annexing the land to the city. The theater gave up its rights to two freestanding signs in exchange for a 200-square-foot sign on the side of the theater facing Meijer Drive, and one freestanding sign. 3
The City of Champaign eliminated the 50-cent-a-seat license fee for movie theaters along with other entertainment license fees for athletic events, coin-operated amusement devices, pool tables, bowling lanes, and skating rinks, at its 21 February 1995 meeting, as part of its continuing review of licensing regulations. Coincidentally, this action was taken at the same meeting where approval of the revisions to the annexation agreement paving the way for the construction of the new Beverly Theatre was granted.
The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. Wednesday 22 February 1995. Page A-3.
City approves plans for new theater site.
The Champaign City Council formally approved the plans on 21 February 1995, allowing construction of the new 35,300-square-foot Beverly Cinemas theater complex to proceed. 4
Grand opening ad from
The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette,
Thursday 14 December 1995.
An article by Don Dodson in The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette on Thursday, December 14, 1995, reported on the impending opening of GKC Theatres latest theatre in Champaign-Urbana. The Beverly Theatres, named for a recently closed GKC theatre in Peoria, one of the earliest that Kerasotes had built,1 was the first Kerasotes built from scratch in town. The had acquired their previous local operations by taking over existing theater businesses. Some of the buildings were purchased and some were leased. They had also added screens to some of them. Two additions, the Co-Ed II in 1965, and the Country Fair Cinemas had been major new construction projects. The Beverly was an all-new operation in an all-new building.
The Beverly Theatres opened on Friday, December 15, 1995. Admission prices were $5.75 for adults, $3.75 for children and senior citizens, and $4 for students with IDs.5
Patrons could choose from the following movies playing the first week: Jumanji, Heat, and Toy Story, each on two screens. And Father of The Bride II, Sabrina, Goldeneye, Ace Ventura When Nature Calls, It Takes Two, and Home For The Holidays. 5
Aqua and black was the color scheme for the new Beverly Theatres. Seating capacity varied from 288 to 124, with a grand total of 2,200 seats in the entire complex. Larger theaters had what Kerasotes termed “stadium seating,” where the rear rows of seats were stepped up on risers.5
The Beverly Theatres, at 910 Meijer Drive, just north of the Meijer grocery store, when opened was at the northernmost commercial location on Prospect Avenue. The company liked the fact that the location would have easy access from I-57 and from Market Place Mall to the east. 5
All the seats had cup holders in the armrests. A Kerasotes employee was quoted: “We’ve noticed that Coke being spilled has been reduced by 80 percent since we installed them” in other theaters.5
Beverly Theatres had a staff of 30 to 40 people.5
The opening of the 12-screen Beverly brought the total number of local commercial screens to 43. Other theaters were the Savoy 14, Country Fair (seven screens); the Coed (five screens); Market Place (four screens); and the single-screen Art Theatre.5
Simultaneous to the opening of the Beverly, GKC converted the Country Fair Cinemas to a discount house with tickets priced at $1.50, joining their Market Place Cinemas as a discount house. 5
GKC Theatres closed their 4-screen Market Place Cinemas on 29 January 1998 after six-months of operating it as a second-run, $1.50 movie house with limited success. 6
The George Kerasotes Corporation invested $2.2 million in late 1999 adding six additional auditoriums, expanding the Beverly to the largest, with 18 screens, movie complex in Champaign-Urbana-Savoy.7
This expansion also made the Beverly the largest complex in the GKC chain among its 45 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Up to this point, the largest had been its 14-screen theater in Elkhart, Indiana.7
The two larger new auditoriums each seated 280. Combined, the six added 1,200 more seats which brought the total capacity of the Beverly to 3,300. 7
All six new auditoriums were equipped with state-of-the art technology, all digital sound, wall-to-wall screens, stadium seating, and aisles with extra leg-room. There were no changes to the existing 12 auditoriums.7
The addition was built in two major parts, three auditoriums on both the north and south sides of the existing theater complex and the lobby was also expanded. Some existing parking closer to the building was lost, but was replaced with additional new spaces for a total of 700 parking spaces.7
This GKC Theatres ad printed in The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette of 21 April 2000 ad is the first to use the Beverly 18 name.
We learned from an article by Mike Monson in The News-Gazette of 16 June 1999 that JSM Development of Champaign had reached an agreement with the George Kerasotes Corporation of Springfield for the purchase of the theater complex at 612-618 E. Green Street, effective as of July 1. JSM Development, consisting of partners Jeff Hartman, Steve Hartman, and Michael Hartman, already controlled several properties in Campustown. They were interested in the redevelopment potential of the Coed property and said JSM would eventually convert the building to retail and office uses. They had been using grants from the Campustown Redevelopment Incentive Program to make improvements to their properties. The article said the theater would remain open for the time being. 8
July 8, 1999 was the last day Kerasotes screened films at the Coed, their first theater in Champaign. 9
The end of the decades-long Kerasotes era in Champaign and Urbana came in 2005. Not only was it the end in Champaign, but for the entire GKC Theatres chain when the $66 million deal in which Carmike Cinemas of Columbus, Georgia, acquired Springfield-based GKC Theatres, closed in May 2005. The Carmike Cinemas chain increased its holdings by the 30 GKC Theatres with 263 screens in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This included the Beverly Cinemas, the last local Kerasotes owned theatre. 10
Both Bryan Jeffries, GKC Theatres’ executive vice president of film and marketing, and Judy Russell, Carmike’s director of investor and public relations, agreed patrons wouldn’t notice much change at the local theaters. However, 25 employees at GKC’s Springfield headquarters would lose their jobs. 10
Don Dodson’s article in The News-Gazette of 23 April 2005 reported that GKC’s “Jeffries said family-owned GKC began preliminary talks about a sale six months ago. He said GKC President Beth Kerasotes decided this spring ‘the price was right and the time was right’ to sell to Carmike. Competitively, the industry is getting tough to compete in at a family-owned level. There are technological advances coming up, (such as) digital cinema. There are upgrades that need to be made (at GKC’s other theaters) to keep up with the standards of the Beverly. That’s easier for a company the size of Carmike to do.” Most of Carmike’s theaters were in small to mid-size markets, with 80 percent of them in communities of 100,000 or less, a characteristic that appealed to Beth Kerasotes. She said in a news release, “We believe Carmike’s small-town focus is a perfect fit. Their management team understands the benefits of operating in small towns.” 10
George Kerasotes, patriarch, founder, and company namesake, had died in March 2001. George’s father, Gus, was a Greek immigrant who opened a nickelodeon theatre in Springfield in 1909 and his first movie theater in the early 1920s. George Kerasotes opened his first movie theater in Peoria in 1937. 10
The Kerasotes era in Champaign and Urbana came with their purchase of both the Princess in Urbana and the Coed in Champaign in 1958. This was well before the Kerasotes family split their theater business into two distinct companies. Over the years, GKC Theatres came to operate all the local theatres except the Art and the Savoy. Following industry trends toward mega-plexes, GKC had consolidated their local operations into the Beverly 18.
NOTES:
1 Bloomer, J. Philip. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Wednesday 1 February 1995, page A-1. Theater complex eyes C-U.
2 Bloomer, J. Philip. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Thursday 2 February 1995, page A-3. GKC plans N Prospect theater complex.
3 The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. Thursday 16 February 1995. Page A-6. New uses approved for building. By J. Philip Bloomer.
4 The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Wednesday 22 February 1995, page A-3. City approves plans for new theater site.
5 Dodson, Don. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Thursday, December 14, 1995. Page B-7. New 12-screen theater center to open Friday.
6 Schenk, Mary. The News-Gazette, Friday 30 January 1998, page C-10. It’s ‘The End’ for 4-screen movie house.
7 Pressey, Debra. The News-Gazette, Tuesday, 4 May 1999. Page A-3. Beverly Cinema to add 6 more screens.
8 Monson, Mike. The News-Gazette, Wednesday, 16 June 1999, page A-1. Coed Cinemas’ future unsure.
9 The News-Gazette, Thursday, 8 July 1999. GKC movie listings ad.
10 Dodson, Don. The News-Gazette, Saturday 23 April 2005, page A-2. Movie theater chain to be sold.
11 Dodson, Don. The News-Gazette, Thursday, 28 February 2013. Page B-6. So long Beverly…new theater won’t open till summer.