The Ratkovich Company, in partnership with  National Real Estate Advisors, Blue Vista Capital Management, and  Alamo Drafthouse Cinema today announced the Austin-based theater chain will open its first Los Angeles theater at  The Bloc, a 1.8 million square foot mixed-use destination at the hub of the city’s retail, entertainment, financial, and sports center. Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is slated to open in 2018 as The Bloc completes its $180 million renovations bringing a vibrant, open-air, pedestrian-friendly, urban destination to Downtown Los Angeles.

“When we announced seven years ago that we would be embarking upon a plan of nationwide expansion, my primary goal was to open a theater in Los Angeles,” says Alamo Drafthouse Cinema founder and CEO Tim League.  “After many years of exhaustive searching and planning, we feel we have found the perfect home at The Bloc. Building a new audience for foreign language films, documentaries and independent movies is core to the Alamo brand, and this flagship theater will be ground zero for that effort.”

“Alamo Drafthouse is the perfect addition to The Bloc and to Downtown LA’s rapidly growing food and entertainment scene. It brings a fresh and unique take on the traditional movie-watching experience and will be a great compliment to the other retailers at The Bloc. The Bloc is a gathering place for all Angelenos, making it the place to be in Downtown LA.” said Wayne Ratkovich founder and president of The Ratkovich Company.

Alamo Drafthouse provides a unique cinematic experience with in-theater dining underpinning a heavily curated program of hand-picked blockbusters, highest-quality independent, foreign and documentary features and special event programming. It’s food and beverage offering is equally deliberate with a full menu offering food made from scratch and a heavy dose of the best local craft beers and cocktails. Alamo Drafthouse Downtown will be located on the second and third floors of the southwest corner of The Bloc, accessible from the Flower Street mid-block crossing and the fourth floor of the parking structure.

Alamo Drafthouse Downtown will have twelve screens and seat approximately 560 people for new release movies, independent, foreign and classic films, as well as an exhaustive slate of the Alamo’s unique signature event programming. Each of the auditoriums will be equipped with state of the art 4K digital projection and amazing sound.  In addition to providing superior presentation, the Alamo eliminates the traditional front rows to ensure there’s no bad seat in the house. The theater will also be equipped for 3D and archival 35mm projection.

In keeping with Alamo Drafthouse’s commitment to providing the best in-theater dining experience, the downtown LA destination will feature locally inspired and sourced food and drink. Moviegoers can order food and drinks from their seats while servers silently attend to them throughout the film. In addition to the twelve theaters, an adjoining bar will give fans the opportunity to discuss films over a plethora of local craft beers and cocktails.

Accessibility and integration with the city at large continues to be a priority for The Bloc and Alamo Drafthouse. Alamo Drafthouse Downtown will be conveniently accessed via the Blue, Expo, Purple and Red lines at the 7th Street Metro Center Station. Current Metro expansion connects Alamo Drafthouse Downtown to Santa Monica, Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley. The theater will offer four hours of free validated parking..

By delivering the best films, food and drinks, exceptional presentation, strict ad-free and no talking/no texting, Alamo Drafthouse strives to live up to Time Magazine’s claim of being the “Best Theater Ever.”

About Alamo Drafthouse 

Tim and Karrie League founded Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in 1997 as a single-screen mom and pop repertory theater in Austin.  Twenty years later, the now 27-location chain has been named “the best theater in America” by Entertainment Weekly and “the best theater in the world” by Wired. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has built a reputation as a movie lover’s oasis not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse created Fantastic Fest, a world renowned film festival dubbed “The Geek Telluride” by Variety. Fantastic Fest showcases eight days of genre cinema from independents, international filmmakers and major Hollywood studios. The Alamo Drafthouse’s collectible art gallery, offers breathtaking, original products featuring designs from world-famous artists based on licenses for popular TV and Movie properties including Star Wars, Star Trek & Universal Monsters. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is expanding its brand in new and exciting ways, including co-founding a film distribution company Birth.Movies.Death., an entertainment content platform for movie lovers and the American Genre Film Archive, a non-profit film archive dedicated to preserving, restoring and sharing exploitation-era film.

About The Bloc

An urbane property at the heart of downtown Los Angeles, The Bloc brings Angelenos together in a vibrant, open-air, truly urban center. Acquired by The Ratkovich Company with partners National Real Estate Advisors and Blue Vista Capital in June 2013, The Bloc inhabits a full city block and is in the final stages of a $180 million renovation to create an experiential activation of unique shops, premier retailers and restaurants serving the newly flagged Sheraton Grand Los Angeles hotel, office tower and downtown neighbors. Originally built in 1973 by architect Charles Luckman, the development will be the single largest mixed-use property in Los Angeles where consumers can work, sleep, shop and eat. It is anchored by a fully renovated Macy’s Flagship store, the completely reimagined Sheraton Grand Los Angeles, and a 722,000 square foot creative-leaning office tower. The Bloc is both LEED certified, WELL certified and known for its connectivity, curating a favored DTLA destination. For more information, please visit www.theblocla.com

About The Ratkovich Company

The Ratkovich Company is a Los Angeles development company that engages in both new development and the imaginative reuse of existing buildings. The company has completed, or has under development, nearly 18 million square feet of commercial space in Los Angeles County, including The Bloc, a 1.8 million square foot, mixed-use property at the heart of downtown Los Angeles that will become the premier urban retail, office and hospitality destination. The company has also redeveloped The Alhambra, a 45-acre mixed-use urban community in the city of Alhambra, and The Hercules Campus at Playa Vista, a landmark property comprised of 11 historic buildings, including the hangar where Howard Hughes’ legendary Spruce Goose was built. The Hercules Campus is home to Google/YouTube, Konami and 72andSunny. The Ratkovich Company has won numerous awards for its restoration of Los Angeles landmarks, including the art deco Wiltern Theatre and adjacent Pellissier building; the iconic 31-story 5900 Wilshire in Miracle Mile; the Chapman Market and the city of Glendale’s Alex Theatre. The James Oviatt and Fine Arts buildings were also both awarded national landmark status after successful renovations by The Ratkovich Company.

About National Real Estate Advisors

National Real Estate Advisors is a leading investment manager, specializing in build-to-core-developing and owning large-scale, urban commercial and multifamily projects for its institutional client accounts. National constructs investment portfolios of stabilized modern property assets-apartment, office, mixed-use, industrial, data center and hotel-with design features, technological enhancements, and amenities that can drive high tenant demand and create value for investors. The firm is a subsidiary of the National Electrical Benefit Fund. For more information visit, www.natadvisors.com

About Blue Vista

Blue Vista Capital Management, LLC, founded in 2002 and headquartered in Chicago, has raised in excess of $1.1 billion of institutional equity, and currently manages four closed-end funds, two separate accounts and one joint venture relationship with approximately $5.25 billion of assets under management. The firm’s clients include institutional investors, pension plans, insurance companies, the world’s largest university endowment and select family offices and high net worth investors. For more information on the firm, please visit www.bluevistallc.com.

For Alamo Drafthouse Media Inquiries:

CONTACT:   Brandy Fons                     Brad Johnson

PHONE:       (310) 809-8882                 (972) 898-7528

E-MAIL:       brandy@fonspr.com          brad@fonspr.com

For The Bloc Media Inquiries:

CONTACT:    Anastasia Lukiman

PHONE:        (213) 355-5566