Cinerama Dome Refinances for Nearly $42M

HOLLYWOOD-Owners of the Cinerama Dome, the landmark geodesic-design Hollywood theater, have secured a $41.5-million loan to refinance the restored and modernized classic, according to Venture West Funding of El Segundo, which arranged the financing. The theater, at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, consists of an ArcLight Cinemas 15-screen cinema complex and adjacent retail space housed in a 216,000-sf facility spread over 3.4 acres. Matt Douglas of Venture West, who arranged the 10-year, fixed-rate loan, says borrower Dome Entertainment Center Inc. wanted to lock in today's low interest rates. Dome Entertainment operates a modernized, refurbished complex where the Cinerama Dome opened 42 years ago. Douglas says the $41.5-million loan, funded through Bear Stearns, is the largest single-property loan arranged by Venture West since its founding nearly 10 years ago. The property is valued in excess of $80 million. The Cinerama Dome theater was a landmark the minute it opened in 1963 with a 937-seat theater where its debut showing was the movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." The theater, one of the world's first concrete geodesic domes, featured an 86-foot by 34-foot screen that was designed to show movies over a nearly 180-degree span. The renovated and refurbished venue is one of the only remaining theaters that exhibits three-strip Cinerama as well as 70mm Super Cinerama, which came into vogue in the 1960's and 1970's. The tenant mix at the property today includes ArcLight Cinemas, 24-hour Fitness and Kitchen Academy. Parking for the complex is provided by an adjacent parking structure owned by the City of Los Angeles.