OREM — The owners of University Mall have big plans for the scraggly, weed-filled lots and crumbling roads alongside the Orem shopping complex.

The Village at University Mall, slated to partially open next summer, will incorporate retail, restaurants and entertainment in a 150,000-square-foot, open-air addition east of Mervyns and The Sports Authority.

"We found it interesting that the second-largest city in Utah County did not have a theater complex," said Collier Reid, senior leasing director for the Woodbury Corporation, which owns the Orem mall.

The plans include 25 shops, a large, high-tech 16-screen theater, water features, shop-front parking and a lot of landscaping.

"The Village is going to be kind of a lifestyle center," said Rob Kallas, manager of University Mall. "(It will) change a little bit the flavor of our mall and allow us to bring in tenants who sell things that aren't being sold in our mall."

The stores have not yet been contacted or announced, but Kallas said they want specialty shops and larger stores that sell home-improvement products. Cinemark Theaters is in negotiations with University Mall, evidenced by Cinemark signs on building sketches. Nothing is official at this point, mall officials said.

Calls to Cinemark for comment were not returned.

The goal is to have some shops and the theater open by June 2008.

A new theater is needed to keep up with the growing and changing demand, Kallas said. The first in-mall theaters were created in 1978 and the current dollar theater jumped on scene in 1989.

While mall officials wait for a new, large theater to be created, the older theater just northeast of Mervyns is being put to good use.

Brady Whittingham, the co-founder of the Utah Family Film Festival, took over the lease from an out-of-state owner after it expired the end of August.

It's a short-term lease, because he knows the mall is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a national movie-theater company. So his company will stay until the mall asks it to leave.

"We know (the new theater) is coming," Whittingham said. "But our plan is to make the most of the time we can."

Whittingham, an avid independent film connoisseur and even an indie-film producer, wants to bring high quality entertainment to Utah County.

Last June was the first year of the annual Utah Family Film Festival, which Whittingham and co-founder, Tyler Measom, created to spread the love of independent films. And now they'll do it through the theater.

The theater will show traditional second-run films as well as independent films, most for the traditional $1 entry fee.

The Orem Planning Commission recently gave its approval for the mall's site plan, and the city will be transferring ownership of some of the roads to the mall, said Jason Bench, an Orem city planner. Along with changes on the mall lot, the new project will require a new signalized intersection at 1000 South and 800 East.

Mall owners must now apply for a building permit, Bench said. Once they turn that in, the city will have 10 days to review the application and send it back with comments. After approval, construction can begin.

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