Will Texas-based Flix Brewhouse be the lynchpin that finally makes The Row a reality in downtown Chandler?
The cinema-brewery chain and Valley developer LGE Design Build have reached an agreement for Flix to anchor the much-troubled development on the southwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard, MXSW has learned.
To refresh your memory, the city approved plans for The Row – then anchored by Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and including new locations of popular Valley restaurants like The Vig, La Bocca, Modern Margarita – back in 2014.
Problems with the site’s soil led to more than a year’s delay of the start of construction, during which time Alamo chose a new location in south Chandler for its first Arizona outpost, which opened in December 2016.
Meanwhile, La Bocca and Modern Margarita, which are owned by the same restaurant group, also got tired of waiting and opened in the former Coach & Willie’s space two blocks south of The Row.
Back on track
For most of the past year, the city had been waiting on a vague plan for Scottsdale-based Harkins Theatres to step into the project – the city is insistent a theater be part of the development – but Harkins and then-developer Vintage Partners never reached an agreement.
By the end of 2016, the city instead had turned to LGE, which has been heavily involved in downtown Gilbert’s new Heritage Marketplace, to come up with a new proposed plan for The Row.
The centerpiece of that plan, MXSW has learned, is Flix Brewhouse, a combination theater, restaurant, and craft brewery concept similar to Alamo. It currently has locations in Round Rock, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Carmel, Ind.; and Albuquerque, N.M.
Unlike Alamo, Flix brews a dozen of its own craft beers and shows only first-run ‘‘blockbuster’’ (i.e., non-indie) movies.
So what’s next?
The Chandler City Council has yet to see, much less approve, a new proposal for The Row, but one official tells MXSW the city, after the years of delays, is looking for ‘‘an accelerated timetable’’ from LGE.
Almost all new movie theaters open either in late May (for the summer blockbusters) or December (for the holiday blockbusters). Given those parameters, even if the city received and approved a plan next month, a December 2017 opening would seem overly optimistic.
A Flix official tells MXSW the chain is excited about coming to Chandler, and LGE has a successful track record. So there’s no reason not to think The Row is finally going to become a reality in 2018.
