While the retail, entertainment and dining heart of Legacy Place is opening as planned this week, a seventh building is missing from the development: the new world headquarters for National Amusements Inc.
When project partners W/S Development Associates and National Amusements unveiled their plans for Legacy Place in 2005, the office complex for the Redstone family's movie theater company was billed as "a new corporate headquarters that will reflect the company's worldwide growth and expansion."
Nearly four years on, National Amusements is loaded with debt, looking to sell dozens of theaters - and plans on staying, for the time being, at its temporary headquarters on University Avenue in Norwood.
The company's splashy 15-screen complex Showcase Cinema de Lux - a key component of Legacy Place - is holding a preview day today before its official opening Friday. But on the planned site of the headquarters - the northeastern corner of Legacy Place, between the cinema and a massive parking garage - there was, as of Monday, merely a plot of smoothed-over dirt.
In February, National Amusements was said to be determining its size needs for a new headquarters, and considering whether to build three or four stories. In June, spokeswoman Tracy King said the company was still determining its space needs, and this week she said it is in an "assessment mode."
"We have still not determined the direction we are going with a new headquarters," King wrote in an e-mail.
In the meantime, grass will go on the headquarters site at Legacy Place, King said.
King said National Amusements plans to remain for now in its three-story office building at 846 University Ave. in Norwood. The company bought the 64,500-square-foot building in 2006 for $9.4 million and relocated there in June 2008 to make way for the construction of Legacy Place. The new development has gone up on a site that previously housed National Amusements and a 35-year-old Showcase Cinemas.
The new headquarters was once tentatively listed as an 85,000-square-foot building.
Privately held National Amusements operates upward of 100 movie theaters with more than 1,500 screens in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and Latin America, and through majority owner Sumner Redstone holds a controlling interest in CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc.
National Amusements reportedly has $1.46 billion in debt, and has been working this year to sell off part of its movie chain.
Asked about the company's progress toward selling up to 60 domestic theaters and 22 U.K. theaters before a $500 million debt payment is due to creditors in October, King responded, "We are unable to comment at this point as the negotiations are confidential."
The high-end Showcase Cinema de Lux includes four Lux Level auditoriums with reserved seating and in-seat dining, three auditoriums that can show movies in "Real D digital 3D," a concierge service, the Lux Level Lounge for patrons 21 and older, and Studio 3, a full-service restaurant and bar in the lobby.
King said the theater will employ about 200 people, many from Dedham and surrounding towns.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
