Union Station 10 Cine'
900 St. Louis Union Station,
St. Louis,
MO
63103
900 St. Louis Union Station,
St. Louis,
MO
63103
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I worked for Wehrenberg for 35 years in the corporate office. The theater was actually opened in 1988 with a grand opening later in 89 and did not have 70 mm only 35 in all 10 screens. We were also out of Union Station long before the bankruptcy. The company also never said anything about never wanting to operate a theater in the city again. We just didn’t. Amc theaters were the original ones that had the plans and were to open the theater. They backed out and we stepped in. We had the Stadium one and Stadium two Cine’s for years prior to Union Station and they were very profitable. As with many city businesses, crime is the main reason for shutting down a location. Union Station back then was as a whole becoming a crime ridden area.
Kyle Muldrow – Where did you hear that Wehrenberg would never operate in STL city again after this? They never really tried to succeed in that area.
The mural was by Louis Grell, who is a well-known muralist. Photos of the mural are on the website http://www.louisgrell.com/artworks/union-station-st-louis-mo-1942/.
July 15th, 1989 grand opening ad in photo section
After reading the articles posted by CinemaJunkie, sounds to me like Wallace was forced out of the Union Station 10, rather than just deciding to cancel their lease. Do I have that right?…actually, not surprised this theater didn’t make it…
In a story about the auction address given as: 401 S. 18th Street.
Looks like the building has been foreclosed on and is going to auction in the coming week:
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If I recall correctly, Wehrenberg Theaters publicly announced they would never again operate a theater in the St. Louis city limits after closing the Union Station.
I was at Union Station last month. A good third, maybe half of the place was vacant.
Yes, the building is still standing. Unused for about five years now.
Is the building still standing?
The theatre opened on July 15th, 1988.
This article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch mentions this theater; prospects for either re-opening or re-use do not look good:
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The above description is some what close to what happened at this theater. Actually Wehrenber Theatres operated the theater from 1989 and closed it in 1998, before the Wehrenberg chain filed for Chapter 11 in January 2001. Wallace Theatres spent $1 million in renovating the Union Station Cine’ which when Wallace had the Union Station dropped to stupid cine and said simple cinemas. Wallace took over in 1998. Wallace had a 10 year lease at UNION STATION CINEMAS. However was announced they wanted to close the UNION STATION CINEMA in November 2000.
Read the story for Wallace wants to open Union Station here:
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AND
Wallace in talks to close curtain at Union Station here:
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One interesting thing about this theatre was that it was built under a major highway and that the support pillers for the highway were actually in the building without actually touching the building (this was a requirement of the highwat department). At one time it was the only building in the US with this bizaar use of space. The construction price of this theatre was very high because of all the extras which also included a full service bar and high end sound systems. The lobby was expansive and very interesting to see.