Cinema centre up for grabs

Once-bustling complex offers unique opportunity for variety of business types, writes Shaun Gillham

THERE was no business quite like show business in Port Elizabeth’s Rink Street during the ’90s when the once-bustling Kine Park movie theatres and entertainment centre was at the height of its success.

Now, in a rare and somewhat unique business opportunity, the long-vacant movie theatres – which according to the owners are in pristine condition – accompanied by a significant amount of retail space, are up for grabs.

Boasting 4 000m² of space, the prominent art deco-styled building on the corner of Pearson and Rink streets in Central is available for either leasing or purchase.

Businesses previously occupying the complex – well-positioned at the end of the Rink Street commercial node – benefited from its close proximity to St George’s Park and cricket grounds and the relatively high-density population of the scores of apartment blocks in the area.

More recently known as the Uptown Theatres after an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to revive movies there, the complex is owned by Port Elizabeth business family the Khans.

“A ball-park figure for the value of the building is around R12-million,” Mark Khan of Mark Khan Properties revealed.

He said the complex presented both a rare and interesting opportunity for business enterprises.

“The building, and the theatres in particular, is in pristine condition. First prize would be to secure a quality tenant for a long-term occupation of the building, the kind of tenant that would also bring value to the area,” he said.

“There is already a great business mix in the immediate vicinity, with the likes of attorneys and other professional services, as well as retail points situated very near by.

“A sale of the building would also be considered.”

Khan said the building – parts of which were last occupied by radio station BayFM until about two months ago – had already attracted a lot of interest, from churches in particular.

“However, it is rather a matter of holding out for the right, quality tenant,” he said.

“The theatres offer interesting opportunities and have around 700 seats. But the area does not have to be used to screen films and can be used for a variety of purposes, including hosting a church group.

“We would certainly look at a well-established national church, should one want to take up the complex.”

He said there was at least 1 500m² of retail space in the building, and that lease and rental prices would be market-related.

One of Nelson Mandela Bay’s few movie theatres in its time, the definitive Kine Park exposed generations of locals to their first movies which were screened there until 2005.

The centre was also home to one of the city’s more popular night spots, Cagneys, and later housed a 7-11 supermarket, a Chinese restaurant and bar, and dentists, among other businesses.

Attempts to use the theatres as an art movie centre were unsuccessful, but by 2010 the venue was still being used for theatre and music shows on a part-time basis.

In 2009, the Bay’s urban renewal and development guru, Mandela Bay Development Agency head Pierre Voges, pointed to the occupancy of the building as an important part of preventing urban decay in that part of the Central area.