Rezoning sought for IMAX site
The Post and Courier
Rivers Enterprises is seeking a zoning change that would allow for the opening of a hotel on the Fountain Walk at Aquarium Wharf.
Prior story about the IMAX closing
Curtain closes on IMAX published 09/18/07
The developer of the Fountain Walk complex at Aquarium Wharf, home of the shuttered Charleston IMAX theater, has applied for a zoning change that would allow the property to be used for a hotel.
John Rivers of Rivers Enterprises, which operated the 415-seat theater for seven years before shutting it down in 2007, said he has no specific plans for the property and is seeking the zoning change because it would allow a wider range of options for the site.
Charleston Planning Director Christopher Morgan said the city staff is recommending that the Planning Commission approve the change at a meeting tonight.
"It would allow someone to put a hotel on that property," Morgan said. "The owners wanted the flexibility to have that kind of use. At this point there is nothing definite."
Morgan said an ongoing planning study of the eastern end of the Calhoun Street area has found that a hotel would be appropriate at the Fountain Walk site and concluded there is enough demand for lodging to support one there.
A block away, at Concord and Calhoun streets, a hotel is planned as part of a project on the edge of Concord Park.
The IMAX and a Just Fresh restaurant in the same building at Fountain Walk closed in 2007, in a blow to both the Fountain Walk development and the South Carolina Aquarium, which had sold combination tickets with the IMAX and counted on the theater to attract more tourists to the area.
The Charleston IMAX opened in 2000. Rivers Enterprises took over after the first operator stopped paying rent a few months after the theater opened, following disappointing ticket sales.
The rezoning request will be heard at a Planning Commission meeting that begins at 5 p.m. at 75 Calhoun St.
Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postand courier.com.
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Comments
Reader (anonymous) says...
The area around the IMAX is not a high crime area. In fact, I do not ever recall having heard about criminal activity occuring around either the IMAX or Aquarium. That was clearly not the reason for its failure.
As to the hotel idea, Joe Riley has never met a hotel he did not like. It is an easy source of accommodation tax revenue which permits him to avoid raising property taxes.
September 17, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
I wasn't aware IMAX had closed!
I agree with the high ticket price being part of the problem.
That is also the reason I don't go to the aquarium more often.
Parking is an issue also.
September 17, 2008 at 8:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wjhamilton3 (anonymous) says...
I enjoyed the Imax. The nature and history films were always very impressive. We had an annual pass, which made going there a good value. The films had solid, family oriented content.
The Imax was one of the few things we would travel downtown to do after we moved to Mt. Pleasant. There's very little in the tourist district of enduring interst to the local resident. I could give the tour at all the house museums myself. I can certainly do a better tour of downtown than the average kid driving a carriage. I know which whore house Beauregard was seen visiting, though what he did there was far from certain. I can show you where Jack Kennedy entertained the German girlfriend his father kept trying to keep him away from.
I was disturbed that they censored the movie which mentioned evolution, however anyone who paid attention could see references to those issues in a lot of the films shown there over the years. Climate change, the dynamic nature of life and how it interacts with the environment and the impact and process of history were regular themes. I suppose, since they didn't say "this is evolution" when they showed you how the dinosaurs died because they couldn't adapt to their environment, while the mammals could, the Yahoos never understood what they were talking about. It was certainly clear that the mammals changed through natural selection.
Thankfully the local bible thumpers are only oppossed to "evolution." They aren't opposed to natural selection, sexual selection, biological competition, adaptation, preservation of genetic information from previous phylogony or ontology. It's somewhat like being opposed to automobiles, while not objecting to the discussion of highways, gasoline, engines, passengers and speed.
We didn't find the parking an issue, because the area has good CARTA bus connections for us, Mt. Pleasant #40 to downtown, then the Aquarium Shuttle DASH to Fountain Walk. The area had a nice bus shelter. I could grab my son after school, hop on the 4:12 CARTA #40 bus and make the connection to see a 5 pm movie and then meet my wife coming home from work at 6 pm at the Bus Stop. It all worked great.
Another hotel is better than an empty building, but it does show why the city is of diminishing interest to families with children. The City was once a great place to live and it's a waste that it's largely occupied by tourists, students and part time residents now. My son lived there the first ten years of his life and we had a good time. We left because of the schools. Given the price of real estate downtown both free parking and affordable family housing are probably as much a part of the past as slave auctions on the North side of the Exchange Building.
September 17, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wjhamilton3 (anonymous) says...
I suppose,with the Imax being converted to a Hotel, we could say that the city is evolving. The question is, is it evolving into a dinosaur that will perish because high fuel prices and bad airline connections will reduce tourism or will be an adaptable mammal who survives because Americans can't afford to go out of the country any longer? We should use our highly evolved brains to attempt to shape our environment to increase our chances of long term survival. Mammals survived because they could generate their own heat and eat anything, including dead animals and each other. They survived the cold period after the KT comet impact for those reasons. It wasn't a very pleasant lifestyle, eating your relatives while shivering in the dark, but they held on.
Maybe tourism is like that, an unpleasant lifestyle which facilitates survival. We eat our relatives by turning our economy over to low paying jobs and sacrifice our quality of live to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on.
September 17, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flinsc (anonymous) says...
Turn it into a Casino. Give this area a face lift.
September 17, 2008 at 9:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mkris (anonymous) says...
Turn it into a Casino. Give this area a face lift.
Great idea! Revenue and vice; Sunday morning in Church. Bring back the Ol' Charleston way of life.
September 17, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tallblonde (anonymous) says...
Seriously - when you have John Rivers, Jr involved in anything.......*LOL* Too bad Rivers, Sr wasn't around to develop it - make it successful - THEN pass it on to Jr....it would have lasted many more years before Jr could mismanage it into another failure.
September 17, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GreenvilleGirl (anonymous) says...
I think a hotel/casino combination would be PERFECT! You could go to church, stop by the casino afterward for a little gambling, then take advantage of the wonderful buffet that casino restaurants are known for serving! Since most casinos give out a free $5 bet for the locals, they could be given out after the offertory at local churches.
The churches would see more people in their sanctuaries, their offering plates would be a little fuller, and people would get to church early to get a seat.
King Joe shouldn't mind, because HE would be the FIRST to have his own casino, and it would be a HUGE generation of revenue for The Holy City. The Myrtle Beach gurus would be so jealous because deep down, they have always wanted to be the first casino town in SC.
It would only take an amendment to the state's constitution to get it done. THAT should only take a few generations to accomplish.....but wait! If Rivers was willing to pay off some good ol' boys in our esteemed legislature, I'm sure an amendment could be expedited.
Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue? The blue bloods in town would be screaming, "Miss Scarlet, Miss Scarlet! Thah' gamblers ah comin'!"
Sorry. My ADHD kicks in unexpectedly on occasion.
September 17, 2008 at 12:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
konphidence (anonymous) says...
Now here this. John Rivers will get his wish from the city b/c the city wants Mr. Rivers to donate piece of his property along Bees Ferry Road for the completion of the West Ashley Traffic Circle where the new wal-mart is currently...... it will happen. J.Rivers is a heavy hitter and chris will make it happened. please stay tuned. don't ask how i know, i just know.
September 17, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
How....TALL ...will this hotel be??
Is there enough area to make a hotel profitably feasable??
Motel 6 is roughly 49.99 per night??
What is the maximum number of rooms that could be built??
Now ...if it is a "Boutique" Hotel for the newlyweds that get hitched at the Maritime Center...are we talking 500 per night??
Some how ...I SMELL....Waterfront CONDOS with boat SLIPS !!
September 17, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mkris (anonymous) says...
Now here this. John Rivers will get his wish from the city b/c the city wants Mr. Rivers to donate piece of his property along Bees Ferry Road for the completion of the West Ashley Traffic Circle where the new wal-mart is currently...... it will happen. J.Rivers is a heavy hitter and chris will make it happened. please stay tuned. don't ask how i know, i just know.
Thats no secret. The ol' boys network is alive and well. Just think about all that traffic along east bay street and into ansonbourogh.
September 17, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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