The movie theater at the shopping mall formerly known as Broadway Commons will close in early 2025 after nearly 30 years at the Hicksville property.
The Showcase Cinema de Lux Broadway will close Jan. 5, according to the theater chain.
“Due to a business decision, we have chosen not to renew our lease,” Showcase Cinemas said in a statement Monday while encouraging patrons to visit the chain’s other nearby locations in Farmingdale and Holtsville.
Owned by Norwood, Massachusetts-based National Amusements Inc., Showcase Cinemas declined to say why it chose not to renew the lease or how many employees work at the theater.
K/BTF Broadway LLC, which is the real estate partnership that bought the mall this year and renamed it The Shoppes on Broadway, did not respond to requests for comment Monday. It is unknown if a new operator will take over the theater or if a theater will even be part of the planned $100 million redevelopment of the mall.
Located at 955 S. Broadway, the theater was named Broadway Multiplex Cinemas when the 12-screen, 3,000-seat venue opened in May 1995, as part of a redevelopment of what was then called Broadway Mall.
The theater later became the Showcase Cinema de Lux Broadway.
Mall redevelopment planned
In February, K/BTF Broadway bought the majority of the mall property, 59.37 acres, from UBS Group AG, a Swiss investment bank, for $40 million. The mall is 1.1 million square feet, but only 729,862 square feet were sold to K/BTF Broadway because Target, Ikea and four out-parcels were not included in the transaction.
K/BTF Broadway plans to convert the property to an open-air “lifestyle center,” which Newsday reported in June.
The redevelopment will take the property back to its roots somewhat, since it started out as an open-air shopping center called Mid-Island Shopping Plaza when it was built in 1956.
The shopping center was enclosed in 1968. It was renamed Broadway Mall in 1989 after a redevelopment.
The mall’s last major redevelopment was in 2016, and it was renamed Broadway Commons in 2017.