SAN ANTONIO – Nearly a year after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered movie theaters across Texas, one San Antonio cinema will not make a return.
Regal Fiesta 16 Cinema on Vance Jackson Road has permanently closed, according to Weingarten Realty, which owns the Fiesta Trails Shopping Center.
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Gerald Crump, the senior vice president and the director of the central region at the Houston-based firm, said the cinema has fully vacated from the property.
“We are considering all options for the existing building and open to working with a class A multi-family developer,” he said in a statement to KSAT, adding that a class A multi-family developer would “make a lot of sense” at the location.
“We have considered back-filling the building with another entertainment user and have been actively marketing the property for sale for other developers to possibly turn the property into something entirely different,” he said.
Weingarten Realty wants the future of the site to “benefit” the shopping centers and the community, he added.
Fiesta 16 was located just north of another Regal property, Regal Huebner Oaks, which remains closed along with the chain’s four other sites in San Antonio.
That includes Regal Alamo Quarry, Regal Cielo Vista near Ingram Road, Regal Northwoods on Henderson Pass, and Regal Live Oak.
The company that owns Regal cinemas announced in October that it would temporarily close 536 cinemas across the U.S. despite re-opening them earlier in the year.
Before closing a second time, the theaters were offering $5 flicks and a few newer movies, like “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” “Infidel” and “Tenet.”
Cineworld closed the Regal theaters, as well as 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse venues in the U.K., due to the lack of blockbusters to attract customers during the pandemic. Some 45,000 employees were affected in total.
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