When the third Movie Tavern location in metro Atlanta opens near Roswell on Dec. 17, it will mark the completion of an overhaul of a major retail center.



The dinner-and-a-movie business comes on the heels of a recent opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the Sandy Plains Village Shopping Center in East Cobb, just west of Roswell city limits.



Located on Woodstock Road between Sandy Plains Road and Mabry Road, Sandy Plains Village has undergone a $12 million transformation by DDR Corp., an Ohio-based commercial retail redeveloper.



Sandy Plains Village is now 90 percent leased, compared to 20 percent following the departure of Kroger, Stein Mart and other stores.



The Walmart grocery moved into the Kroger space, and Movie Tavern will be the second major tenant in Sandy Plains Village.



But the Movie Tavern project generated some community opposition during its Cobb rezoning case last year, mostly from nearby residents concerned about building height.



The 45,000-foot cinema, which cost $2 million to renovate, will include 12 screens and 1,500 total seats.



The Movie Tavern chain was purchased recently, and it's the eighth-largest in the U.S. with more than 400 locations.