Business Journal: Movie Bistro, Fruit Building, Craft Beer Summit

Sacramento's Howe Bout Arden shopping center, which already has the Century Arden 14 theater, is getting a second movie theater complex. The Sacramento Business Journal's Digital Editor Sonya Sorich says Cinemark announced plans this week to bring its Movie Bistro concept to the center.

"This new theater will have a full bar and luxury lounge chairs. Plus, customers will get to order food from their seats inside the theater. Construction is slated to begin at the end of this year, with a grand opening scheduled for next summer."

More and more movie theaters throughout the country are expanding their food menus and offering alcoholic beverages to help attract more customers.

Sacramento's oldest high-rise office building may soon be converted into a hotel with a restaurant and bar. The Fruit Building dates back to 1914. This week, an application was filed to renovate the building at 4th and J streets. Sorich says the Fruit Building is on the city's register of historically significant buildings.

"That means that a builder would have some limitations on any changes that could be made to convert it to another use. But then again, this sort of project isn't entirely unheard of. Not too far away from the Fruit Building, the Citizen Hotel is also considered historically significant."

The Citizen Hotel, at 10 and J streets, went through an office-to-hotel conversion about a decade ago.

The California Craft Beer Summit is going on now in Sacramento. The three-day event started yesterday at the Sacramento Convention Center. The summit is taking place as more and more entrepreneurs realize that the brewery business is getting tougher. Sorich says this week EDH Brewing Company in El Dorado Hills announced plans to cease operations. And Rubicon Brewing Company in midtown Sacramento will have its final bash on September 15th.

"But new breweries are still opening. One of the newest additions locally is Outbreak Brewing in Placerville, which was in the works for more than two years. It recently opened its doors."

Meanwhile, Rubicon's operations in midtown and West Sacramento are for sale. The Craft Beer Summit ends with a festival Saturday on Capitol Mall.

A new bar and restaurant opened in downtown Sacramento this week. It's called Ten Ten Room. Sorich says it's a place that could appeal to both craft beer fans and people who like retro cocktails.

"This bar and restaurant has a 1950s vibe. It comes from the same husband and wife team behind the Jungle Bird and Tank House, two other local venues."

That husband and wife team spent more than $100,000 transforming a former sushi restaurant called Megami Bento-Ya into the Ten Ten Room. It's located on 10th Street near J Street.