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Home My WebLink AboutLETTER - Teton River Village - 485 N 2nd E - Rezone from LI to HDRDENNIS F. STEVENS 122 N. 4th East, Apt. #4 Rexburg, Idaho 83440 Phone/fax: (208) 359-9966 Mr. Kurt Hibbert Rexburg Planning & Zoning 12 N. Center Rexburg, ID 83440 14 May 2004 Dear Mr. Hibbert: I know that you are probably tired of hearing from me, but after previously suggesting certain charges against the operators of the Teton Village Center, I feel that I must set the record straight by sharing information that has just come to light. To wit: In checking further with my source (Constantine "Chick" Hambas, comptroller and chief operator of Pacific Theaters), I have learned that the company operating the Teton Village Center is not Alan Ackerman's Maryland corporation called American Family Entertainment Group but rather a Wyoming company called American Family Entertainment Centers ("AFEC"), the latter operating out of Pinedale, Wyoming. Although they operate identically, Hambas doesn't know if they're related but thinks that they are both owned my Hatch Marketing and Advertising. Dan Abernathy and Joe Linsman are the executives in charge of Hatch. Hambas suggests that of the two, the Wyoming operation is by far the more experienced, less shady, and likely to be the more successful. Both companies develop expandable family entertainment centers for eventual sale or license to private investors, in other words turnkey oper- ations. The theaters use digital equipment so that the entire center can be operated with as few as four or five employees. Hatch specializes in selling (local, but eventually national) advertising spots for pro- jection on the screens prior to the start of the feature film. Rock Rabbit Productions produces the ads, which are transmitted to the theater from a central location by Kodak, via DSL. Rock Rabbit prides itself on the presentation of its entertaining ads, which are often in the form of cartoons which tell a story, not unlike the ACME story points in the old "Road Runner" cartoons. Both the Maryland and Wyoming companies are in bed with Kodak Digital Systems. Kodak has invested a fortune in digital technology but is still far behind Christie and other digital projection competitors in sales. It makes sense that Kodak would team with someone like Hatch Marketing and Advertising to get its system on the market. Sorry about the earlier confusion and hope this sets the record straight. It certainly does for me. In any event, I wouldn't shy away from involvement with AFEC. ;Since, ly, Dennis F. Stevens DENNIS F. STEVENS 122 N. 4th East, Apt. #4 Rexburg, Idaho 83440 Phone/fax: (208) 359-9966 Mr. Kurt Hibbert Rexburg Planning & Zoning 12 N. Center Rexburg, ID 83440 07 April 2004 Dear Mr. Hibbert: Further my letter of the 21 April, thank you for the information you left on my answering machine. Thanks to said information I've made contact with Mr. Alan Ackerman, President American Family Entertainment, LLC (P.O. Box 308 Elderburg, MD. 21784). After checking out the company I have elected not to get involved. They are a company with little, if any credibility in the current theater exhibitor arena. They remind me of promoters who franchised the Jerry Lewis theaters in the late 1960s. Those theaters were a turnkey operation whereby the promoters opened the theaters but quickly sold the right to purchase and/or operate them to groups of individual investors at inflated prices. The Jerry Lewis Theater promoters sold the projection and sound equipment to the investors for up to 10 times their actual cost. After 18 months, all the theaters were closed due to a combination of inflated overhead and lack of exhibitor experience on the part of the investors/ theater operators. I have no way of knowing the true intent of Alan Ackerman. I only know that installing higher cost digital equipment in a market such as Rexburg, together with the vast limitation on product that such equipment represents, doesn't make sense unless the promoters are counting on the 40 percent rebates (over a period of time) currently offered under the table by Christie, a leading supplier of digital projection equipment. Who gets this rebate, the investors or American Family Entertainment? I wish American Family Entertainment the best of luck, but hardly think that Rex - burg's Paramount Twin and Holiday theaters, together with the local drive-in, have anything to worry about. Because I have no way of knowing Ackerman's true intent, I trust that you will keep this information confidential. I would not have written this letter if the subject of the Teton River Village complex hadn't come up last Sunday evening, during a celebra- tion of my mother's 90th birthday, hosted by my cousin Vicky Grover (Rexburg Chamber of Commerce). Vicky suggested that I had a moral obligation to pass on my concerns, even though unsubstantiated. Warmest regards - L Dennis F. Stevens 'li116i1�ie. BIFIIl..� ti��c: y„tyRRi%iiI111G: "i�IIII�IIIII 335 APARTMENT SUMMARY 13 12 -PI DWO • 156 UNITS 11 2 -BR - 85% = 132 UNI'T'S 02 3 -BR -I5% = 24 UNITS PARKING 156 wm : 2.25 = 351 CARS REQUIRED 355 CARS PROVIDED RETAIL SUMMARY 18 LANE BOWLING ALLEY - 28,200 SQ PI' RETAIL = 24,000 SQ PT TOTAL = 52,200 SQ PI' PARKING BOWLING - 7. 18 LANES - 126 CARS RETAIL - 24,000 / 250 = 96 CARS TOTAL REQUIRED = 222 CARS TOTAL. PROVIDED = 217 CARS TETON FIVER TETON RIVER VILLAGE SCALE: I"= 100'-0' IIIIIIIIII � it I! ADDITION CY 3,400 BP BRISTING BUILDING BOWLING — ua69 B<' IMANCE ;ND I:AS'I G ICE CREAM BOWLING C� 28,200 BP PIZZA _ 5,035 BP _ 18 LANES RENTAL 3,BBo aP