Penn wants Cinemagic 3 out -- but not because of late rent, at least according to company President Andrew Sheppard.
"This situation has nothing to do with us owing rent. It has everything to do with Penn wanting to get rid of us," Sheppard said.
University officials maintain that their motivation stems from about $100,000 in late rental payments.
But Sheppard said that the reasons behind the threatened eviction deal more with the theater's role in the local community and the University's greater goal of revamping the 3900 block of Walnut Street.
Cinemagic 3 movie theater does not want to vacate the space.
"There is definitely another side of this story that's a lot more valid and it goes back for years," Sheppard said. "They've tried for many years [to persuade us to leave] because of the fact that we appeal to the local community and the neighborhood as a whole."
Cinemagic has a 20-year term lease that University officials said is slated to end next year.
"Penn had the opportunity, according to certain language in our lease, to not allow us to renew in the next five years if the University was going to use" the space, Sheppard said.
"If they were going to use the theater ... they had the option to stop us in our tracks from renewing, but ... they slept and missed the deadline."
The cinema does not dispute the fact that they are behind in their rent. However, they claim that the University had a good understanding of the nature of the movie business.
"It is a seasonal business ... every business deals with that in University City," Sheppard said. "But we deal with it more based on the time of the year the pictures come out from the studios. ... There are highs and lows throughout the year and it's always been that way and they understood that from day one."
Pointing to incidents in the past, Sheppard further explained why he feels the late payments are not the sole cause for the University's actions.
"We have gotten behind many times in the past on rent. They were always willing to work with us -- always," Sheppard said. "Once they finally had gotten another theater, and now they have the Bridge, when we tried to talk to them last summer to work with us, they refused. They said, 'We want you out.'"
University officials confirm that they were more lenient with Cinemagic on previous occasions, but feel that they have the right to continually evaluate the situation and act accordingly.
"We have helped Cinemagic when they were having issues with cash flow," University spokesman Tony Sorrentino said.
"We've helped lots of our tenants through the years, but ultimately we have to make a decision on whether or not we think an individual operator has viability in a marketplace," he said.
