When the COVID-19 panic began, the owner of the AMC Oakview theater property at 140th and West Center Road reached out to Pat Regan about selling the building. The future of the movie theater industry was uncertain, but the building was state-of-the-art designed and constructed. The owner had also extensively renovated and upgraded the property in 2018.

Given the great location, demographics and access, Pat identified a myriad of potential alternative uses that might work to retrofit the property, including retail, office, multifamily, self-storage, light industrial, civic and more.

Other retail boxes in the area had already been successfully converted to a number of complementary retail and civic uses, so the AMC property hit the market with a lot of interest. Soon after that, multiple potential bidders emerged, and the winning bidder had planned to convert the property to office use.

As the effects of COVID-19 continued to alter the office environment, that buyer rescinded its purchase agreement, and the property went back on the market. After some time, a local buyer and investor emerged who had initially planned to convert a portion of the building to office and storage for its primary business. This investor recognized the value of the location and decided to move forward with the purchase knowing there would, in time, be a use and fit for the property. The current AMC owners determined it was time to move on and offload this property from their portfolio.

The new owner retained Pat to market the portion of the property not being used by the new owner. Pat was able to generate interest from a number of prospective tenants.

As the pandemic began to ebb, the owner believed that an entertainment and movie theater use was still a viable option given the quality of the location and building. Soon multiple out-of-town prospects emerged and expressed interest in opening a new theater business.

After the owner’s careful consideration, B&B Theatres, a family-owned, privately held company, emerged as the best partner. B&B Theatres started in 1924 and is headquartered in Liberty, MO. The company has theater operations in 13 states. While plans are generally to open this summer, B & B Theatres will announce more details about their opening as they get further along with their planning and renovation.

This article appeared in our company newsletter in June of 2022. Please click here to download the entire newsletter.