WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Downtown West Palm Beach's only movie theater, located at a multiplex in The Square, is the exact spot where the construction of two office towers is under consideration.
The plans, long rumored, are mentioned in the latest West Palm Beach City Commission agenda.
In a request for clearing some regulatory hurdles, it mentions that CityPlace Retail, LLC, would like to construct two office towers at the northeast corner of South Rosemary Avenue and Hibiscus Street, which is where the former Brio restaurant and AMC movie theater block are located.
Speculation about the theater's closing started online when advance ticket sales of the new "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" movie, opening May 5, could not be made on the theater's website.
Efforts to reach AMC for comment were not returned.
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"The Square has modified itself over the course of time," commercial real estate attorney Brian Seymour at the Gunster Law Firm in West Palm Beach said.
Seymour said demand for office space is still very strong since available land downtown is scarce.
"We have found people do come to the office," Seymour said. "People want to be in the office, and we have a migration of people into Florida, and specifically Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach, that drives that demand for more office space."
The driving force behind the development is billionaire and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who has one recently completed office building downtown and is currently building another one and a large residential building in The Square.
Originally opened in 2000 as an entertainment, retail and restaurant district, the area has also gone by the names, CityPlace and Rosemary Square.
The loss of the multiplex theater is disappointing to some who live and work downtown.
"I think it's a loss for the whole square," Melissa Caruana, who works downtown, said. "I think it's nice to have because there's really nothing else around here, and it's fun to go to the shows and dinner after."
The proposed plans, still tentative and far from approval, call for a 455-seat IMAX theater in addition to the office buildings.