Santikos to construct eighth S.A. theater

Granada_Santikos Theaters has announced plans to build its eighth cinema in San Antonio. The new Granada Theater at Potranco Road and Loop 1604 will be a 16-screen cinema that is expected to open in late December. The Granada Theater is will have a Spanish motif and an a retail component attached to the cinema.Front less Granada_Santikos Theaters has announced plans to build its eighth cinema in San Antonio. The new Granada Theater at Potranco Road and Loop 1604 will be a 16-screen cinema that is expected to open in late ... more Photo: Santikos Theaters Photo: Santikos Theaters Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Santikos to construct eighth S.A. theater 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

For some moviegoers, the coming attractions are something to look forward to. Well, this coming attraction isn't a new movie but a new movie theater.

San Antonio-based Santikos Theatres has plans to build its eighth theater in the Alamo City on 26 acres at Potranco Road and Loop 1604 on the city's far West Side. Santikos expects to break ground on the 16-screen Granada Theater on May 1 and expects to complete it by late December, said Chris Taylor, the company's director of operations.

The cost of the project was not released.

The nearly 65,000-square-foot cinema also will have a retail component. The company hasn't nailed down a tenant yet, but some of its other theaters include an ice cream shop, sushi bar and dance academy, Taylor said.

The theater's main lobby will have a cafe, entertainment area with video games and areas for birthday parties and special events.

“We'll do some restaurant offerings in there with some unique food choices,” Taylor said. “It's just going to be a lot of fun. We're excited at expanding to this part of San Antonio and are looking forward to it.”

Inside the cinema, the auditoriums will have stadium seating, wall-to-wall screens and digital projectors. Some of the auditoriums also will offer 3-D viewings.

Each theater in Santikos' arsenal has a different theme. The Granada is modeled after the city in Spain and will boast a Spanish motif throughout the building.

The last time Santikos opened a theater was in 2005 when it launched the IMAX Palladium at The Rim shopping center. Since then, that theater has become the most profitable for the company, Taylor said. It's also the company's largest.

The idea for Granada started coming together in 2007. The company chose the far West Side because of its growing population, Taylor said.

“It's a terrific location, or we wouldn't be looking to invest there,” he said.

Many developers are starting to eye the area, and the number of residential and commercial projects is expected to boom in the coming years, said Phil Telisak, senior vice president at The Weitzman Group.

“That's an area a lot of developers are showing interest in. Right now, there's a very good critical mass of rooftops to certainly support a theater,” Telisak said. “On top of that, Santikos has built-in growth for the future. The projected growth of that particular area is probably one of the highest growth areas in the future of San Antonio.”

Last August, Santikos started work on a second theater in the Houston area. The 22-screen Palladium in Long Meadow Farms will be part of a 90-acre mixed-use development. That location is set to open later this year.

The Granada and the Palladium will bring the total number of Santikos theaters to 10.