A Korean company will set up an immersive art display in the former ArcLight Cinemas location at Santa Monica Place.
D’strict will open Arte Musuem late this year and expects to draw about 1 million visitors to the open-air shopping center that is owned by Macerich Co. Arte Musuem in Santa Monica will become the U.S. flagship location of the venue.
Arte Museum will also open this year in Las Vegas. Its museums are planned and produced by D’strict, a digital design company based in Seoul, South Korea. Cory Scott, executive vice president, Asset Management at Macerich, said the Santa Monica-based company was pleased to welcome Arte Museum to Santa Monica Place.
The mall is the permanent home of Cayton Children’s Museum and has hosted other experiential attractions, including the first retail property location for Candytopia, an interactive art installation celebrating all things candy, Scott said.
“The immersive, experience-driven Arte Museum is an excellent fit for Santa Monica Place and provides a terrific example of how Macerich consistently works to evolve the retail, dining and entertainment offerings in each of our markets to match consumer preferences,” Scott said a statement.
Arte Museum is Korea’s most popular media art exhibition space, attracting more than 3.7 million visitors in the 26 months since its debut in 2020, according to a release from Macerich.
At Santa Monica Place, d’strict will place its art installation in the 48,000-square-foot space that once was an ArcLight Cinema and a Bloomingdale’s department store.
“This new use represents the first executed lease in our planned repurposing of the former Bloomingdale’s box, and we look forward to announcing details on the other uses – including high-end fitness – for the remainder of this exceptionally well-positioned space,” Scott said in a statement.
In April 2021, ArcLight and Pacific Theatres, both owned by Decurion Corp. in Los Angeles, announced they would close all of their locations due to financial reasons stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. ArcLight Cinemas operated 11 locations nationwide, while Pacific operated six in the Los Angeles area.
Since then, Regal Cinemas has taken over the former ArcLight location at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, while AMC Theatres, the largest movie theater chain in the U.S., took over the Pacific locations at the Americana at Brand in Glendale and The Grove shopping area in Los Angeles. Regal has since announced plans to close the Sherman Oaks location.
