It won't be long before a new upscale movie theater, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, opens in the new National Landing neighborhood.
Plans call for the movie theater — part of a mix of shops and restaurants coming to Central District Retail, at 1660 Crystal Drive — to open sometime in 2020. It's in the central part of the area dubbed National Landing, which encompasses Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard.
Developer JBG SMITH notes that its approximately 109,000-gross-square-foot entertainment and shopping destination will be anchored by the 49,000-square-foot movie theater. Once complete, it will serve as the retail heart of National Landing and the foundation of anchor amenities for future phases of placemaking development.
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company is in charge of building the project and its permit was approved by Arlington County in June. The company is known for its large-scale projects across the country, including theaters such as The Theater at MGM National Harbor.
Alamo Drafthouse, headquartered in Austin, Texas and founded in 1997, has theaters across the country including in Ashburn and Woodbridge in Northern Virginia.
At Alamo, you can order from an extensive menu of food and drinks delivered to your seat (the theaters come with long narrow tables that run the length of the row). Patrons can order from the menu before the lights go down and during the movie.
Here's a tiny sampling from the menu:
Fried pickles with buttermilk ranch; Colorado steak salad; Prosciutto and Burrata pizza; Nashville hot chicken sandwich; Beyond Meat burger; lump crab cakes; salted caramel shakes; "adult" shakes including the whiskey banana split; cocktails, including margaritas; French press coffee; more than a dozen wines to choose from and more than 30 draft beers.
Here's more about what makes Alamo different, from their website:
- We have a Code of Conduct that strictly prohibits harassment of any type by anyone at our theater.
- We have zero tolerance for talking or using a cell phone of any kind during films. We’ll kick you out, promise. We’ve got backup.
- We don’t allow anyone under the age of 18 to see a film unaccompanied unless they’re part of our Victory Vanguard program.
- To minimize distractions, we generally don’t admit infants and small children. We do, however, offer weekly daytime screenings under the banner of Alamo For All, meant for young families and guests with special needs.
- We don’t show paid advertisements on our screens. Instead, if you arrive early you’ll see a custom pre-show our video squad has filled with content we think you’ll love.
Meanwhile, National Landing Business Owners Association, spearheaded by JBG Smith, applied last month for a "Commercial Lifestyle Center" license or what some call a "sip and stroll" license, from the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. It would allow visitors to take their alcoholic drinks in open containers, purchased at restaurants, into shops and outdoor areas, to encourage them to stick around longer.
