Downtown Springfield movie theater to reopen in November - Springfield Daily Citizen (2024)

The downtown movie theater that has stood silent for almost two years will reopen in November 2024, with operations under the umbrella of a Springfield development company.

Tillman Redevelopment, LLC — a commercial real estate and development company with a portfolio that includes multiple downtown Springfield properties — will open College Station Theaters in mid-November, Paul Tillman, property manager, said by phone Aug. 27.

A grand opening celebration is tentatively scheduled around the Nov. 22 release of the highly-anticipated “Gladiator II.”

Tillman Redevelopment already owned the theater property, located at 415 W. College St., and had previously leased it out to Regal Cinemas, which shuttered The Regal Hollywood in downtown Springfield in January 2023, according to a company Facebook post.

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In 2022, Regal’s parent company, Cineworld Group, declared bankruptcy. In early 2024, the property was listed for sale at $5.95 million and available to lease, according to previous Springfield Daily Citizen reporting.

Around the end of February 2024, the commercial development company decided to reopen the theater under a new business, College Station Theater, LLC, and began renovations that will add to the moviegoing experience, Tillman said. The property manager said the motivation to reopen was to give back to the downtown community by developing an asset that will draw people in.

“No one is going to care about the downtown Springfield as much as us,” Tillman said. “So, we’re going to (reopen the theater) and hopefully support the downtown as much as they’ve supported us over the years.”

Moviegoing experience upgrades make up bulk of renovation costs

Tillman declined to disclose a final investment decision to reopen the theater, but said the bulk of costs stemmed from theater upgrades like state-of-the-art sound systems and projectors, and top-of-the-line seats that recline and have a heating function.

Yes, you heard that right: Recliners that keep your bum warm, too. The moviegoing experience has drastically changed in the past decade.

“We want to be, maybe, just a step above what’s available” in Springfield, Tillman said, referring to the luxury of heated, reclining chairs for each individual customer. “The lion share of the (renovation) work that we’re doing is purely to make sure that the cinema experience itself is of the highest quality.”

In the four largest screening rooms, the company is installing Dolby Atmos, a surround sound technology, Tillman said. The upgraded theater will have new laser projectors throughout.

“The last six months we’ve been working through infrastructure — seats, projectors, sound,” Tillman said. “Getting through all the equipment we need. We can see the finish line now.”

Reopening the theater will be a boon to downtown, Tillman says

College Station Theaters will feature an extended food menu, but the management company is still working through the details of its food-service plan, the property manager said. The company has hired one theater employee and is actively pursuing more.

The neon-red “Hollywood Theaters” signs that have graced downtown for more than a decade will be changed to the new name in early September, Tillman said. Other than exterior tweaks, only minor cosmetic renovations will be needed before opening.

College Station Theaters “won’t look significantly different than it was before, other than the name,” Tillman said. “But the technology there will be drastically different than it was before and it will just be an overall better experience.”

College Station Theater, LLC, was created in April 2024 and is registered to Randell D. Wallace of Springfield, with Scott Tillman listed as an organizer, according to Missouri Secretary of State records. The nearly 55,000-square-foot theater was last sold in 2008, according to Greene County Tax Assessor’s Office records.

The theater, with 14 auditoriums, was built by developer Scott Tillman, owner of Tillman Redevelopment. It opened as a Hollywood Theater as part of the City of Springfield’s $8.6 million College Station project that also included a parking garage and retail space, according to previous Springfield Daily Citizen reporting.

Tillman Redevelopment owns a number of properties that surround the theater, including the building that houses Blue Room Comedy Club. The redevelopment company owns more than half-a-dozen downtown properties, as well as others disbursed throughout Springfield, like the building that houses Mama G’s Kitchen, Tillman said.

“We value our downtown and we want to make sure that we’re drawing people down here with a good product and that they use our services, as well as all the other services from the restaurants and bars that are down here,” Tillman said.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of the story misidentified a building that Tillman Redevelopment owns. The company owns the building that houses Mama G’s Kitchen.