Maya’s first theater, in Salinas, opened in 2003. Pomona’s last first-run theater, Indian Hill Cinemas, closed in 2005. The last downtown theater, the Fox, stopped showing new movies in 1976. That’s a long drought for a city of 160,000. In 2016, when Esparza approached Pomona, Maya was operating in Salinas, Bakersfield, Fresno and Pittsburg. It’s added theaters in Delano and North Las Vegas. “Since we began talking to the city, we’ve opened two theaters,” Esparza noted.Īll his theaters have relied on federal New Market tax credits, which give a tax break to investors who finance projects in low-income communities. Treasury Department allocates it to qualified applicants known as community development entities, which then fund favored projects.Ī disposition and development agreement with Pomona lays out the terms for Maya to buy city-owned property bounded by Second, Third and Main streets and Park Avenue for $1.9 million.Ĭongress sets the amount each year and the U.S. “It won’t be in escrow until a financing package is in place.” “The sale of the property has been approved,” Deputy City Manager Kirk Pelser explained to me. That contract was key because it shows investors that the project is ready to go. “We couldn’t apply until we had a final contract,” Esparza said, “and the timing was such that we weren’t eligible for the 2018 cycle.” However, the deal’s August 2018 approval came weeks after that year’s New Market tax credits had been allocated. In the 2019 round, two community development entities had agreed to fund Maya. Both, Esparza said, have had good track records in getting allocations. But when the Treasury Department announced its awards in May, which totaled $3.5 billion, “neither got an allocation,” Esparza said. “And that’s the way it goes.”Īnother round of tax-credit allocations is expected in May or June. Moctesuma is very savvy, very experienced as to how to get those tax credits.” “We feel pretty confident he will get those,” Pelser said. SALINAS MAYA CINEMA CA MOVIE TIMES HOW TO If Maya does get those credits, “we would go into high gear to get construction drawings approved by the city and work with banks for construction loans,” Esparza said. With the zoning already set and the land in hand, he said, construction could begin in late 2020 for a late 2021 opening. If the credits don’t come through, Esparza said, Maya would try again in 2021 and might explore other funding possibilities, like an opportunity zone.Įsparza has become accustomed to playing the long game. His theaters, starting with Salinas in 2003 and most recently with North Las Vegas in 2018, have taken anywhere from 2 1/2 years to 12 years to become reality. “Each one had its own challenges,” Esparza said. Small-town downtowns were abandoned and ignored.” “All these locations could be described as red-lined, either formally or informally. Regarding Pomona, “it’s not going to be easy to do this. He added: “Some of them have been faster.” But none of them have been easy,” Esparza said. He’s still producing movies, including the Dec. 24 Netflix release “Falling From Heaven.” “My very first movie made in Spanish,” he said. I figured if he was going to be gracious enough to give me an interview, he might as well get a free commercial.Moctesuma Esparza has by all accounts lived the American Dream. A kid who grew up in East Los Angeles during the tumultuous times of the Chicano civil rights movement in the sixties and seventies, Esparza has spent his career highlighting the Latino experience through film. The Emmy winning and Oscar nominated movie producer -he was one of the producers of the hit movie Selena as well as The Milagro Beanfield War and Gettysburg, Esparza has expanded his efforts by bringing the movie going experience to several Latino communities. "When I grew up I could walk to three movie theaters, but today Latinos have to drive a far distance to see a movie. I want to make movies a neighborhood event," said Esparza in a telephone interview with NBC News. Moctesuma Esparza with the Grace Vallejo, Mayor of Delano, Calif., at the opening of Maya Cinemas in Delano, California on May 16. The owner and CEO of Maya Cinemas, Esparza opened his latest theater in Delano, California on May 16th, a $20 million dollar multiplex in the heart of the Central Valley.
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