Carmike in Galleria gets a reprieve; South Hills leveled; Denis Theatre closer to goal
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Demolition of the South Hills Theater on West Liberty Avenue in Dormont is under way.
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As they say in the movies, "It's alive!"
The Carmike theater in the Galleria mall in Mt. Lebanon is not going to close June 17 as previously announced. The theater came to terms with the landlord and will survive to mark its 21st anniversary.
In mid-May, Carmike said the theater was closing due to dwindling business but that may have been only part of the reason or a negotiating tactic.
Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Carmike in Columbus, Ga., Monday confirmed the theater will remain open.
"Our guys talked to the landlord and got some things worked out," Mr. Hurst said, adding that he assumed nothing would change at the six-screen theater or Carmike's other operations in the area.
The location welcomed its first paying customers on June 16, 1989, and was scheduled to close after June 17. Its departure would have removed an anchor from the Mt. Lebanon mix of restaurants and shops.
Retrofitting the theater for other tenants would have presented a challenge had Carmike removed its equipment. New occupants would have faced a large space but one that featured sloped floors, high ceilings and no windows.
In other news, the Cinema 4 (more commonly known as the South Hills Theater) at 3075 W. Liberty Ave. is being demolished.
It quietly faded away in June 2001 after the building was condemned because of property maintenance violations, problems with the fire sprinkler system and a broken standpipe.
The theater, more than eight decades old, last operated with four screens and boasted some scattered remnants of its storied past, including Spanish-style ornaments resembling balconies. Long gone was the Wurlitzer organ that rose to center stage on a hydraulic lift.
Some of its auditoriums were awkwardly shaped, and seats were far from new although moviegoers who remembered it in its prime were stunned to see it being gnawed and knocked down.
The space occupied by the movie theater, as well as some adjacent property, is being torn down to make room for a 12,000-square-foot CVS that will open at the beginning of 2011, Dormont manager Gino Rizza said.
First Published June 8, 2010 12:00 am
