This is one of the most innovative and fun theatres I ever dreamed up. Then I got to build it. It was called the Northrock 14. It originally was next door to the original Northrock theatres in Wichita, Kansas. The reversed style auditorium was a concept that came to me when I was at a workshop in a live performance theatre. As you can see the projector is in the center of the auditorium and has a large glass window showing off the equipment inside much like the old Imax theatres use to do. The auditorium is backwards in that the wide part of the room is at the front and the small end at the back. It isn’t a box. It’s also backwards from a conventional live theatre auditorium. You enter the auditorium from under the screen. I built a larger version of this type of complex in Tulsa, OK.
Funny, John Hartley the past owner of Dickinson (bought it from me) built his Palazzo Theatre in south Overland Park, Kansas using the same type of design concepts then went ahead and took credit for the concept and design. In actual fact TK Architects worked with Dickinson and John was the construction manager. I spent hours poring over the plans trying to bring the concept to life.
I never learned if this concept design had a place in Exhibition. That’s still a question but I had a lot of fun and really, the auditoriums were awesome. Huge screens and super sound systems. The complex was at 3151 North Penstemon Street Wichita, KS.
Unfortunately like many things done to the demise of Dickinson Theatres, Hartley closed the complex in late October of 2012. Probably had too. Hartley was notorious in running theatres into the ground. Here is part of a patrons comment found on the Internet;
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Tips for Northrock 14 Theatre
Doesn’t Recommend
jentribue
November 22, 2009
_______________________________________________________________Northrock 14 Theatre To Close
The Northrock 14 Theatre at 29th and Rock Road is set to close as Dickinson Theatres Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The theatre has been leasing the space from Occidental Management after it sold the building in January.
“It was not going to be a long-term tenant anyway, so, we’re just moving forward with our plans to convert the building into Class A office. It hasn’t impacted any of our plans or proformas for the building,” said Chad Stafford, president of Occidental Management.
According to our news partners at the Wichita Business Journal, the Overland Park-based movie theater chain hopes to have a reorganization plan soon, but in the meantime will close theaters in Wichita, Oklahoma City and Blue Springs, MO. Another Dickinson location in Leavenworth recently closed.
Northrock 14 customers were saddened by the news but said they expected the closure after seeing less attendance at the theatre.
“It’s sad for the economy. It’s sad for the people who are working there. Sad for me ’cause I can’t come here to see a movie. I’ve got to go somewhere else. Most of the places are more expensive,” said Nancy Bye, customer.
The theatre will like close its doors by the end of the year when their lease ends.
Dickinson Theatres currently operates 18 locations across 7 states.
KAKE.com reported this story on Monday, September 24, 2012 – staff photograph
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Northrock 14 to be office space by BILL WILSON
Wichita office developer has a contract to purchase the Northrock 14 Theatre, with plans to close the struggling movie house and develop 95,000 square feet of office space on two floors.Gary Oborny, CEO of Occidental Management, said he hopes to close later this spring on a cash deal for the theater, owned by Overland Park-based Dickinson Theatres.
Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but Oborny said the office conversion project, slated to open in the third quarter of 2012, will carry an $8 million price tag. “Each floor will be 47,500 square feet of Class A at a two-floor minimum in a contemporary style,” Oborny said. “We’ll cut windows in the building, redo the outside in a pattern a little bit different than our other design, renovate the parking lot and landscape.”
The theater will be the second building of what Oborny envisions as a 200,000-square-foot, three-building Class A office complex at 32nd North and Rock Road, including the company headquarters at 8111 E. 32nd St. North.
That building, renovated in 2008, also was a Dickinson movie theater. Oborny said it has 6,000 of 84,000 square feet remaining. Tenants include Corporate Lodging.
Plans call for a third building between the headquarters and the theater, with between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet of office space, Occidental president Chad Stafford said. “We’re next to Rock Road, next to K-96, so the convenience of getting here from 96 just to the north allows all our different employees, customers and vendors to really get here from anywhere in Wichita in 18 minutes,” Oborny said.
He said he has several large tenants on the hook for the new office facility, including some interested in as much as 40,000 square feet. Lease rates should range between $19 and $20 per square foot, about $2 under the city’s going rate for Class A space. The theater’s closing date is up in the air, Oborny said, and will be tied to the purchase closing. No general contractor has been selected, but Wichita architect Ron Spangenberg of Spangenberg Phillips Tice Architecture will design the new facility.
John Hartley, president of Dickinson, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
The market for Class A office space in Wichita is showing signs of life, said Stan Longhofer, director of Wichita State’s Center for Real Estate.
“Very clearly in the market right now, there’s some good product and there’s demand for it,” he said. “There’s average product and there’s not a lot of demand for average product. “People are always going to be interested in high-quality space, and since he can demonstrate what he’s done with similar projects, that’s a positive for him.”
Northrock’s closing leaves Warren Theatres as the sole Wichita movie operation, other than the Starlite Drive-In.
Nonetheless, Warren Theatres owner Bill Warren said the Northrock closing has no bearing on his business plans.
“They aren’t a competitor. Haven’t been for a long time,” Warren said. “Entertainment is my competitor — baseball, basketball, events, things like that.” Wichita Eagle – to read more here
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Northrock 14’s parent company files bankruptcy By Dan Voorhis and Jerry Siebenmark
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