Plans for Outdoor IMAX at High School Scrapped
The Saddleback Valley Unified School District has terminated talks with a developer that wanted to privately finance and build a $1.5 million, outdoor IMAX theater at Mission Viejo High School.
District officials in July tried to hammer out a contract with Austin, Texas-based Schlosser Constellation to construct two 35-foot-tall screens on an unused plot of land on the campus, but negotiations fizzled a few weeks later when the company couldn’t guarantee in writing that the venue could turn a profit, a district official confirmed today.
“We were reluctant to go into something where we weren’t guaranteed it would be financially stable,” said Stephen McMahon, assistant superintendent for business services. “It was going to create traffic and other issues, so there had to be a good reason to go ahead and do it.”
Company Chairman Andrew Schlosser, who is heading the project, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
The blueprints for the theater complex – which were patented by Schlosser in 2007 – call for an 800-seat, tiered amphitheater, two IMAX-sized theater screens positioned end to end, and concession stands and restrooms built into the amphitheater.
The facility would be jointly used by the school for educational programs and by the company to show first-run theatrical releases at night. Revenues from movie ticket and concession sales would be split equally with the school.
The company is initially looking to build four such complexes in Southern California, Schlosser told the Register in July. None have been built yet.
In July, the Saddleback Valley Unified school board authorized entering into a non-binding agreement with Schlosser Constellation to pursue the concept further and hammer out a proposed contract.
The company initially indicated the venue would provide Saddleback with at least $20,000 in profits a month, but when district officials asked that the contract include a provision guaranteeing a minimum revenue stream – perhaps $20,000 a month – Schlosser said no, McMahon said.
“It was (Schlosser’s) projection that there would be more than $20,000 a month for the district, but he wasn’t willing to guarantee it,” McMahon said.
Schlosser hasn’t released information on the other sites his company is considering, but at least one other Orange County high school has been approached.
JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano held preliminary talks with Schlosser as recently as June about pursuing the project, said Frank Talarico, JSerra’s president and CEO.
“Nothing’s materialized yet,” Talarico said.
Talarico said JSerra is still interested in the project and is not opposed to future discussions with the company, but noted the project ultimately requires approval from the city.
Camarillo High School in Ventura County and Mira Mesa High School in San Diego County also have been approached by Schlosser, according to news reports.
Mission Viejo High’s venue would have been built on a portion of a practice field considered “unused property” by the district. Saddleback officials said the practice field might shrink, but wouldn’t be eliminated.
Designed to be self-sustaining and not to encroach on campus facilities, the venue would have consisted of two towering, 2-1/2-story screens mounted on hydraulic levers that could rotate, allowing the screens either to be angled away from each other or to be aligned to form one enormous screen stretching 150 feet across.
When the screens are angled away from each other, two different films could be shown at the same time.
Each audience member would have received a headset; no external sound would have been emitted from the theater.
The screens would have been installed just yards away from the I-5 freeway on the northwestern portion of Mission Viejo High’s campus, and likely would have been covered with commercial advertising on their backsides.
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/schlosser-school-company-2557160-high-district
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