Visulite envisioned

Visulite Cinemas plans to build a 10-screen movie theater along Lew Dewitt Boulevard in Waynesboro a half-mile from the site for a 12-screen theater.

Visulite plans to open the new moviehouse in November 2010 near Lowe’s, Adam Greenbaum, president of the Staunton-based company, said Wednesday.

With the zoning and infrastructure for the property already in place, Greenbaum said he expects to break ground in a month to six weeks.

Several years in the making, the theater will be a digital multiplex and include 1,200 overall seats and stadium seating, while featuring mainstream, first-run movies and bringing three-dimensional digital projection to allow for such events as live concerts and other major sporting and video gaming events, Greenbaum said.

“It just seemed like a perfect location – a perfect fit,” Greenbaum said, adding that the city was an underserved market.

“The fact that so many players are interested in Waynesboro kind of bears out that the market is here.”

Greenbaum declined to cite a cost. He called it “sizeable investment, but well worth it.”

Visulite operates seven screens at three theaters in the region – the Visulite Twin and Dixie 4 in Staunton and the Vinegar Hill Theatre in Charlottesville.

Brett Hayes, the developer of the Dewitt Crossing property, said he expects at least two restaurants and other businesses to locate on the 33-acre site. He said the property would be more than 100 feet from the adjacent residential neighborhood.

Earlier this week, Golden Corral announced plans to build near the Lowe’s store on Lew Dewitt Boulevard.

The plan for the theater along Dewitt is the second one proposed for Waynesboro’s West End in the last several months, as an undisclosed national chain has expressed interest in locating in the Waynesboro Place development off Windigrove Drive. A public hearing is scheduled Monday on Waynesboro Place.

Bill Hausrath, a prominent real estate developer and the owner of the majority of the Waynesboro Place property, said all his project is still a go with the mixed-use, planned unit development with proffers.

“If he’s worked out a deal to build a multiplex theater, that’s the way it works,” Hausrath said of Hayes. “I don’t think it changes, particularly, what we’re doing on our property.”

Hausrath said the plans for Waynesboro Place are well thought out. The national chain, which he did not disclose, still wants to put a movie theater there. He said the movie chain chose Waynesboro Place over other sites in the region.

“Our user hasn’t told us that he’s not interested in doing a theater,” Hausrath said.

Even if the national chain did back out, Hausrath said, a commercial development like Waynesboro Place is “still the right use for that property.”

Alston Court and Chatham Road area residents have raised concerns about increased traffic and crime as a result Waynesboro Place. Plans call for a mix of retail and residential development on the 42-acre site owned by Brandon Farms South LLC.

Vice Mayor Frank Lucente said the new theater is a good thing for the city.

“I think this will bring some business around the theater,” Lucente said.

Hayes said the property has the necessary infrastructure in place and the theater will also have room to expand if needed.

“I’ve got a local guy who has already committed to the market with other theaters,” Hayes said. “This is his next step.”

Hausrath, meanwhile, said nothing has changed in Waynesboro Place’s basic layout.

“The bigger picture is that Brett Hayes and we have very well-located property that is good for a variety of commercial users,” Hausrath said. “[If] the movie theaters happen to build on his property, and they happen to build first, that’s the way it works.”