New 10-Screen Movie Theater Coming in 2013

Portsmouth residents who wish they had another movie theater to go to closer to home will get their wish this fall after Cinemagic constructs a new 10-screen theater at the Southgate Plaza on Lafayette Road.

Douglas Richardson of Waterstone Retail Development, the company that owns the Southgate Plaza where businesses such as McKinnon's Butcher Shop and Shio's Japanese restaurant are located, said construction will begin in April.

"We are approved for a 10-screen movie theater with approximately 1,280 seats and a 20,000 square-foot retail building on the north end of the site," said Richardson.

He said the former Goodwill store, which recently relocated to a new space on Lafayette Road, and the former Family Dollar Store and the former Namco pool store will be torn down so the new movie theater and adjacent retail building can be created.

He said Cinemagic, which has seven movie theaters in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, will build their eighth movie theater in Portsmouth. He said it will be very similar to the O'neill Cinemas that recently opened in Epping, with stadium seating and digital projectors. Richardson could not say if the new Portsmouth movie theater will also include an IMAX theater similar to the Cinemagic theater located in Saco, Maine.

Richardson said the new Portsmouth movie theater will also be located next to Water Country and a short distance away from the new Service Credit Union headquarters. Between the new movie theater, retail building and the existing Southgate Plaza businesses, Richardson said his company will realize a big part of the vision they had for the Lafayette Road shopping and retail plaza.