A Memphis movie theater chain is planning on building a 16-screen movie theater in Jonesboro. The theater is expected to be open by Christmas 2013.

Cinema Management Group Inc. is expected to buy 10 acres of a 33-acre retail site between the NEA Baptist Health System medical campus on Highway 49 North and the Craighead County Fair Association’s new fairground location, according to Joshua Brown, an owner of Haag Brown Commercial, the Jonesboro commercial real estate brokerage handling the deal.

Brown declined to say how much the land will sell for because the deal hasn’t closed. But the entire 33 acres is listed for $4.5 million, he said.

He said the purchase is contingent on City of Jonesboro approval to rezone the property from residential to commercial.

Jonesboro, which has a population of just under 70,000, has one movie theater. Malco Theatres of Memphis operates a 12-screen movie house at 2407 E. Parker Road, south of the Joe N. Parker Expressway.

A spokesperson for Cinema Management Group couldn’t be reached for comment.

by Mark Friedman on December 18, 2012