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Looking for theater to buy
posted by
thedude209
on
August 3, 2010 at 7:40 am
Hello,
I am new to the site and hope to get info on theaters for sale in the US. I was raised in California and have seen these theaters one by one be distroyed or turned into all type of other things. Now I am in a position in my life to buy some of these theaters and see if I can bring some of them back to their glory days.
If any of you know of a theater for sale ,please email me as much info as you can. Over the next 12 months, I plan to start the process of buying and bringing them back to life. If you can help me out that would be great. I want to save this part of history. I am mostly looking for single screen with seating from 600 and above.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for offering such a great site.
Thanks again,
Ron
Comments (8)
You might like to review the art deco MACK THEATRE (adjoining a large hotel) in downtown McMinnville, Oregon, situated to the west, about 25 miles, between the capitol Salem and Portland. Locals told me that owner “Gary” only opens the place on special occasions.
This is an “all American” clean and friendly town with very good tourism and most major stores!
Ron:
Go to www.bigscreenbiz.co There are dozens of theatres listed for sale there. If you buy the Mack and need a GM please contact me. I have more than 25 years experience. The Mack is in a perfect location to run classic, foreign, family and inspirational films. There is a Comming Attractions Theatres multiplex in McMinnville.
My email is
Bob Allen
Ron,
I was in McMinnville about 2 years ago and the Mack was closed at that time but I contacted the owner who said that the theater did good business but he didn’t have the time to devote to running it. It’s last incarnation was an art house running foreign, independent, art films. It still has a web page www.macktheater.com and it is still advertising it’s last film “Capote”. Check it out.
I don’t know if you would be interested in a drive in, but there is a drive in for sale in our area that is in need of a buyer, and it is a single screen theatre that was built in 1954 that can accommodate 250 cars. The drive in is in Cuba, Missouri, and is currently open for business and is right off interstate 44 and about a mile and a half off old route 66. The man that owns it wants to get out of the business and has had it for many years and has it up for sale as commercial property, and our town is afraid that it will be torn down for a hotel or some other developmental project. We have recently started a facebook page devoted to the drive in and have had some good success, since our town has around 3,000 people in it, but the tourism is what drives the town mostly, with route 66 and the traffic from all the resorts. The guy doesn’t really do anything to the drive in, nor does he advertise it, it’s mostly word of mouth that gets people to go, but he gets a pretty full house during the summer months. If you are interested you can email me at , or visit our Facebook page, View link Hope to hear from you soon!
Ron,
Kudos to your positive sentiments to do the right thing by these theaters!
I own one that is a classic art deco theater, and while its a 2 screen, instead of slicing up the beautiful main house, the second screen is a completely separate building. It’s also first run, fully operations, brilliant sound, seats are two years old, and in a good small supportive community. I’ve been contemplating selling it because I opened a bigger theater a few hours away and would like to physically move there and focus more on it, but I haven’t listed it yet because I don’t want someone to buy it who you know, has no idea what they’re doing or would just mess it up. If you’d like to talk about it then let me know, is my email. The theater is in Central Illinois. Thanks!
Shoot me an email
It seems that one of the reasons you want to buy old theaters is to preserve them. That is an admirable goal. However, you say you prefer theaters that are large single screens with 600 or more seats. When you start to look at theaters that fit that description, you will find that most are probably in larger towns and cities. Preserving those theaters is for the most part a community service. In many, if not most cases, those theaters would not make a lot of money because of high costs and lots of competition. By the time you restore the theaters, you will already have so much money in them that you will essentially be donating to charity, whether or not you actually set it up as one. That is all great. I wish you well.
However, if you are interested in spending money for the greater good of society, then why exclude theaters in smaller towns and cities? Why limit it to only larger theaters? You could do some good for society by looking at less populous locations with smaller theaters. There are many more of them for sale, and they will require far less investment to get them going, or to keep them going. You might actually make money on some of them. Any money you make can go toward preserving even more theaters.
Many times small town theaters are not as grand as the old palaces, but the people in those communities would still benefit if their theaters were open. Competition should be much less, and the longterm success more likely.
I have a small town twin for sale that I have already renovated. It is fully equipped and could be ready to go with minimal effort, however it is currently closed. So, there is no operating theater in that community. If you want to help, this would be an easy place to start. See the Gentry Cinema before and after photos at http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/25.html . You can e-mail me at for more photos or information.
/theaters/1757/
This mid sized single screen theater is in a midsized town and available for lease. It has 2 floors of offices/apartments above it, Ive no idea if there occupied or not. It seems in need of cosmetic restoration. Google street view oughta give you a better view of what is still called “the Regency” by the locals. It is the sister theater (by way of ownership) to teh Golden State Theater. There is a multiplex indy house (the Osio) a couple blocks down, but I think Monterey could support a single screen venue.
I own the People’s Theater in Roanoke Rapids, NC, it needs full restoration, but is a beautiful theater with 900 seats, and a beautiful balcony. My name is Eric, and I can be reached at 480-251-3565.