Construction of cinema delayed

The annual Beaux Arts Ball will be held on the site of the future FreshGrocer.com. The Sundance Cinema complex will open several months later than planned because of design modifications to the structure, according to Tom Lussenhop, the University's top real estate official. There has been little or no work done on the construction site at 40th and Walnut streets since the summer, while progress on the FreshGrocer.com grocery store across the street has steadily progressed. The grocery store is now scheduled to open by June of next year Lussenhop said Sundance is currently scheduled to open sometime in the summer, rather than in May as was previously planned. The delay at Sundance has caused the Beaux Arts Ball -- an annual black-tie charity event sponsored by the city's Foundation for Architecture and held in a prominent Philadelphia construction site -- to be moved across the street to what will become the grocery store and 800-car parking garage. This week construction of a temporary structure that will serve as the location for Friday's Beaux Arts Ball began on the foundation of the Freshgrocer.com site. Lussenhop said construction of the makeshift structure is being funded entirely by the Foundation. "The event raises an enormous amount of money in a single night, so the costs of the event are covered," he said. Besides going to pay for the ball itself, money raised by the event goes to create programs that will teach public school students about architecture. Last year, the event was held in the then-unfinished Inn at Penn in Sansom Common. The delay at Sundance -- which will become the first of Robert Redford's new chain of independent movie houses -- was caused by modifications to the basement of the complex, which forced designers to make changes in the upper levels of the building as well. "The Sundance design, as is typical in a building that has a unique design, has modifications. These modifications have caused some delays in construction," Lussenhop said, stressing the changes were otherwise insignificant. Lussenhop said construction is back on track, but that the University is considering adding overtime and weekend hours to speed up progress on the building in order to complete it by this summer. Additionally, the severity of winter weather may play a role in the progress of construction, Lussenhop said. When complete, the Sundance Cinema complex will show eight films and will also house a film library, lecture room, restaurant and tapas bar. University officials are expecting the projects to serve as a catalyst for the entire 40th Street corridor, making University City a destination spot for people all over the Philadelphia area.