Boston office buildings, warehouses and even churches have gone condo amid a roaring housing market.

Now a longtime fixture of the area’s cinema scene may be next on the conversion list. National Amusements Inc. said yesterday that it’s gotten inquiries from developers interested in buying the chain’s Cleveland Circle movie house, Circle Cinemas.

Likely topping the list of interested buyers: developer Merrill Diamond, who is already building a luxury condo complex on the nearby Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

“We would be interested in buying it,” Diamond confirmed.

“That site has probably outlived its usefulness as a theater. The highest and best use of the land at this point in time is housing.”

Jennifer Hanson, a spokeswoman for the Dedham based theater chain, indicated that National Amusements is exploring its options in regard to the theater, a Cleveland Circle fixture since 1965.

“As these different opportunities come our way, we are listening to them,” Hanson said.
Other options for the seven-screen theater, which sits squarely on the Boston/Brookline line, include maintaining the status quo or possible enhancing the movie house.

But the revamp of the nearby historic Waterworks site into up scale housing is fueling speculation, Hanson said.

Diamond and co-developer Edward Fish will begin construction this spring on plans to revamp the 1890s water-pumping station on the banks of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

The Waterworks at Chestnut Hill will feature 108 condos in a new building and in a pair of restored buildings, along with a museum.

So far, about half the planned condos have been sold, at an average of roughly #1 million apiece, Diamond said.

Boston Herald By: Scott Van Voorhis 2005-01-13

Press Contact: Peabody Properties, Inc. Tel: 781-794-1000