That’s when the plug was pulled on what is now south Davis County’s only movie theater. And negotiations to reopen have been continuing since, said Spencer Marsden, a partner in the firm of M3B Partners LLC, a group of investors with Utah ties.
His group had been negotiating with General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP), which owns the West Bountiful complex. Marsden had told the Clipper earlier that he hoped to open in time for the unveiling of the new “Twilight” movie.
However, it doesn’t look like anyone will be viewing that movie or any other on any of the screens anytime soon.
JL Theatres Corp. previously operated Gateway 8 along with others in Taylorsville, Magna and Spanish Fork. However, that firm reportedly defaulted on two loans and had its film projection equipment and other assets foreclosed upon by two banks after it defaulted on the loans, a Provo daily newspaper reported previously.
The Clipper learned last month that GGP, based in Chicago, was negotiating with another theater chain to operate Gateway 8, possibly Cinemark Cinemas, a national chain based in Plano, Texas. However, calls to their public relations office were not returned.
GGP could only provide a brief response to a Clipper inquiry Tuesday.
“I’m told we are in talks with theater companies,” said David Keating, GGP senior director of corporate communications.
“At this time we are not ready to discuss a replacement. We expect a replacement in the near future.”
As far as Marsden’s group, meanwhile, he said previously that his firm had “talked with a few commercial real estate developers about land between Bountiful and Centerville.
“We just think they kind’ve deserve a good theater to go to. We had hoped we were going to refurbish (Gateway 8), but if that’s not in the cards, we’re happy to look elsewhere,” Marsden said.
tbusselberg@davisclipper.com
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