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January 3, 2007
For Some Moviegoers, It’s ‘Hooray for Bollywood’
The NY Times
By Kareem Fahim
North Bergen Bollywood Multiplex will probably get the boot from Forest City Ratner, which has secured a major rezoning of the site to build what is known, in developerspeak, as a "mixed-use lifestyle center":
The Indian movie theaters are like community centers,” said Suketu Mehta of Brooklyn, who wrote “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found,” and has attended the CinePlaza with his parents. “It’s a very cheap round trip home.”
But these days Mr. Shah’s business, one of the most successful Bollywood movie houses in the country, is being threatened.
Two weeks ago, the owner of the mall, Forest City Ratner Companies, won approval to redevelop the section where the CinePlaza is situated, perhaps into a residential tower, according to township officials.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” said Mr. Shah, an engineer who entered the cinema business several years ago, and has already changed location once.
He said he had already started looking for another space to rent. “I knew that sooner or later this was going to happen,” he said.
The Hindustan Times reported a week ago that:
The other tenants in the shopping centre, including a ShopRite and Bally's gym, will be not be affected by the redevelopment plan.
Posted by lumi at January 3, 2007 9:35 AM