UA Cinema 1 & 2

Robb Rowley’s Rowley United Division of United Artists Theatre Circuit (UATC) announced this twin, 350-seat cinema in June of 1973. The UA Cinema 1 & 2 would launch between the Dillard’s and Montgomery Ward’s anchors. The venue opened February 20, 1974 with Steve McQueen in “Papillon” and Dean Jones in “Mr. Superinvisible".

A.J. Tony Cranesi had originally announced Amigoland in 1966 described as the Mexican American Disneyland - complete with a major amusement park, resort hotels, and over 600 acres of attractions. The project used Economic Research Associates, a company that had provided the foundational studies behind Disneyland and Six Flags Over Texas. Amigoland received national coverage when ground was finally broken for the project in 1970.

That groundbreaking coverage included a New York Times story and a Texas Parade Magazines article. People were impressed with the scope of the eight world project that included Aztecland with recreations of the Mexican Pyramids and a jungle ride, along with the Amigoland Topical Islands featuring a log flume ride.

The 1971 announced opening date for the $15 million Amigoland Amusement Park likely led to prolific mall developer Melvin Simon & Associates' announcement of Amigoland Mall. It would be adjacent to the amusement park and would open two years after the park in 1973. Four high rise condos by Condo-Rio were to be built and planned for launch in December 1974 which would help foot traffic for the new Mall and the amusement park.

Groundbreaking for the Mall was on July 14, 1972 with Dillard’s and JC Penney already on board as two anchors with Montgomery Ward’s soon joining as the third anchor. Dillard’s opened on November 17, 1973 with a formal grand opening on November 28, 1973. The Amusement Park progress had been stopped by that point. The opening date of the Amigoland Mall was pushed back to 1974 including the UA Cinema. J.C. Penney’s with a grocery store opened January 17, 1974 and Ward’s opened on February 6, 1974. Though the mall had a very uneven opening, the 55-store facility did celebrate its grand opening on February 21, 1974 - with the UA Cinema 1 & 2 opening the day prior.

The theme park and the associated Aztecland attraction, with its pyramids project, stalled and started in 1977 only to stall again. The competing Sunrise Mall opened in 1979 and would prove to be a most worthy retail contender. The Aztecland project had a final mini-spurt of activity in 1981 before abandoned. That left the Amigoland Mall as the only real attribute of the plan - not quite what Simon properties had in mind 20 years earlier when it announced the mall.

Amaigoland Mall was a regional effort whose uneven start appears to have led to a variety of 20-year, 25-year and 30-year leases. The UA appears to have been on a 20-year lease completing its time in the mall. After being downgraded to a dollar house, sub-run venue, the cinema closed. It was converted to retail space. Amigoland had few friends willing to sign renewal leases. It began a quick descent to greyfield status - a term akin to a dead mall where occupancy sinks below 50%. The Sunrise celebrated its 20th Anniversary by expanding its Mall and coming to dying Amigloand to recruit its remaining folks - likely willing to be helpful on the backend of remaining leases.

By its 25th Anniversary in 1999, many of the remaining, commercial 30-year lease holders moved out of Amigoland to Sunrise Mall including anchors J.C. Penney and Dillards. Plucky Amigoland then tried to recruit smaller Sunrise retailers to join Amigoland at rock bottom leasing prices. This led to a disheveled and uninviting Mall with the Cinema already long gone.

Some nonprofit entitles continued in the space including a Children’s Museum. But the Mall was put up for sale closing in 2001 while seeing Montgomery Ward’s, the last retail anchor, go bankrupt. Amigoland was sold in 2002 to the University of Texas at Brownsville. It became the ITEC Center (the International Technology, Education and Commerce Campus). The former mall cinema space is part of the ITEC although it was converted well before the transition. But interior pictures from the mid-2020’s capture the look and original flooring of the Mall very much intact.

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.