Palace Amusement invests millions in new Portmore cinema

• May 26 2019
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sunday-finance/palace-amusement-invests-millions-in-new-portmore-cinema_165594

RANSFORD White, the entrepreneur who owns the Portmore Pines Plaza, may have been right in his forecast for a movie house in Portmore, St Catherine, even after Palace Amusement's decision to exit the market in 2004.

Eight years ago the entrepreneur pumped $300 million into a 10,000-square-foot multilevel space designed for a cinema in Portmore Pines based on his research which showed that the residents of Portmore would welcome a cinema.

White was seeking to lease the building to investors with a track record in the movie business, but in 2015, he decided to pitch the space at information technology and communication businesses after the movie concept failed to materialise.

Today, that space is occupied by nearshore business process outsourcing company, Ibex Global and, interestingly, Palace Amusement is eyeing June opening for its fourth cinema in the Sunshine Outlet Mall, Braeton Parkway; less than 500 metres away or roughly a five-minute walk from the Portmore Pines Plaza.

Efforts by the Jamaica Observer to get a response from Palace Amusement on if it had considered White's arrangement proved futile, but recent developments in the area's housing and commercial infrastructure may have contributed to the company's decision to re-enter the market.

“That was a long time ago and things have changed a lot. At the time there were not many businesses in Portmore and people had to commute from wherever, mainly Kingston, to see our shows, so it was difficult to sustain the cinema,” Palace Amusement's marketing manager, Melanie Graham told the Sunday Finance.

She added that the cinema was also forced to have mainly early shows to mitigate concerns of commute by its customers combined with the fact that Portmore Mall did not prove viable for the operation.