HAYWARD -- The dream of a downtown movie theater development is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Walnut Creek-based Blake-Hunt Ventures has signed letters of intent with a major movie theater company and retailer to lease city-owned property it's developing at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and B Street, said lead developer Brad Blake.

Blake, who will be presenting the City Council with a preliminary site plan for the project Tuesday night, said he'll be able to announce the tenant names by the end of the month.

With the anchor tenants in place, plans are now shaping up for Cinema Place, a 12-screen movie theater and retail center oriented toward B Street. It would replace a vacant Albertsons store with what city officials see as a new gateway to a revitalized downtown. The ground level of the proposed 113,000-square-foot complex would house up to nine shops, one of which would be the 18,000- to 19,000-square-foot anchor retailer. Upstairs would be the movie theater and up to three retailers, likely restaurants, Blake said.

The plan also calls for wide sidewalks along B Street to allow for outdoor tables. And it includes a second-floor balcony that overlooks B Street.

Behind the retail center, along C Street, there would be a two-level parking structure with about 200 spaces for shoppers and diners only. Drivers would enter this structure via an alley off B or C, and parking there would be limited to 60 or 90 minutes.

This would encourage people to stroll B Street and downtown, instead of just staying centered in Cinema Place, Blake said.

Moviegoers would park in one of the nearby municipal lots or in the parking structure the city plans to build to go along with the project across the street on the existing Municipal Lot No. 2.

The proposed structure would add about 165 parking spots to the 700 existing spaces downtown. The project also would wreak some havoc on those who use Lot No. 2 and would be without convenient parking for some 15 months of construction.

City Manager Jesus Armas said the city would like to see the movie theater complex open by the 2005 holiday season. That's ambitious, Blake and Armas agreed, and would require detailed plans to be submitted and approved by August.

The city has a $440,000 contract with Redwood City-based Watry Design to design the parking structure.

Blake Hunt Ventures paid the city $25,000 for exclusive rights to draft the initial plans, conduct environmental studies and pursue tenants.

Among its recent projects, Blake Hunt Ventures developed Olympic Place in Walnut Creek, a 147,000-square-foot retail and office complex anchored by Century Theater and Cost Plus.