After more than four years of promises, a 10-screen movie theater really is coming to the Lewis County Mall.
Coming Attractions Theatres, an Ashland, Ore.-based company, announced Wednesday that final agreements for the Midway Cinema have been signed. The theater is expected to open at the mall over Christmas this year.
The plan is to transform the former Rite Aid drugstore into a 10-screen cinema with stadium seating and digital projection screens, according to a company news release.
The announcement is a long time coming. Last April, Coming Attractions' plan to take over the Rite Aid space at the mall's east end looked dead. An agreement couldn't be made with Sears at the west end of the north Chehalis shopping center. The retailer had in its lease agreement a provision barring a movie theater in the mall without prior Sears consent.
It was unknown at this morning's news deadline what has changed since last April.
The site of the planned theater is about 34,500 square feet. The entire Lewis County Mall is about 154,000 square feet.
