The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission has given approval for a revised layout of the Lexington Exchange shopping center that allows for a 12-screen, 2,400-seat movie theater. The theater will be built by R/C Theatres at the shopping center on Route 235 across from Wildewood Boulevard in California. The theaters join an ALDI grocery store as the first announced tenants in the 146-acre, 900,000-square-feet center.
St. John Property of Baltimore is the shopping center developer. Company Vice President Andrew Roud told the planning commission on Monday night that it is hoped the multiplex with stadium seating will be open in the spring of 2015. Construction is expected to begin next year,
The request of the planners was for a minor revision of the center’s proposed layout since the movie theater tenant was not secured when the planners last saw the proposal in August. At that time the commission approved the ALDI food store for one of three pad sites along Route 235.
Construction is now underway for the acceleration and deceleration lanes on Route 235 for the entrance to the shopping center. The planners have approved a 30-foot sign for the entrance. The movie theater marque would be incorporated into that approved sign design, according to Roud. The shopping center is next to a Chaney Enterprises concrete plant and shares an entrance with it.
The county has been seeking a new movie theater complex for quite some time. One was originally planned for and promised by the developer of First Colony as a recreational amenity, but they were never able to create interest from a theater operator. Instead, as was pointed out at the meeting by Commission Vice Chair Shelby Guazzo, the county forged a deal that led to the building of the pool next to Great Mills High School as a replacement recreational facility. Guazzo was county commissioner at the time that deal was struck.
The planning commission approval Monday for the movie theater was unanimous.
