A Rock Hill movie theater was a staple for decades. Now there’s a new plan for the site.
This summer, a long-time Rock Hill movie theater site could open its doors again for business. But It won’t be for any blockbuster film.
It’ll become an office and flex space, meaning it’ll have some warehouse uses too.
“I’ve been working on it for a couple of years now,” said Doug Doggett, owner of the former Cinema 7 property at 2150 Cherry Road.
Doggett, owner of Doggett Concrete in Charlotte, bought the property in March 2022 for almost $1.5 million. In March of last year, the company submitted a traffic analysis to the city for a project called Rock Hill Flex Space. It envisioned redevelopment of the theater for 19,000 square feet of flex or office space.
The project came after Doggett looked in the area but was unable to find smaller warehouse space, he told The Herald this week.
“Being in the concrete business, I figured I could convert it,” he said.
What happens next at the site?
The first three units of what’s now called AMC Flexspace are being upfitted so Doggett can lease them out by July, if not earlier.
He hasn’t advertised spaces but has worked with Realtors. The site could appeal to small businesses or hobbyists in need of warehouse room, he said.
“The idea is where the units will have some office space and a warehouse door, somewhere between 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot units,” Doggett said,
What they won’t include, per a requirement in his sales agreement, is any kind of a movie theater.
“These will be smaller units and house small businesses, car enthusiasts and collectibles,” Doggett said. “Each of the theaters will have a garage door and area for office and conditioned warehouse space. The long-term plan is to build other buildings that will fit the same model.”
History of Cinema 7 in Rock Hill
The theater was built in 1982. Stewart & Everett Theatres, Inc. owned it, along with many movie theaters across the Carolinas.
In early 1987 Rock Hill’s only downtown theaters, the Pix and the Cinema, closed as owner Carmike Cinemas Corp. moved shows to the Cinema 4 at the Rock Hill Mall after acquiring Stewart & Everett.
The mall on Cherry Road once sat beside where the theater under redevelopment now is, and where Publix is today. In the summer of 1987, Carmike added three new screens to Cinema 4 to create Carmike Cinema 7. Those screens brought new movies like “Revenge of the Nerds II,” “Spaceballs” and “Beverly Hills Cop II.”
The theater continued to show first-run movies for more than a decade.
In 1999 it was one of a select few area theaters that met capacity and digital surround sound requirements to show the first new “Star Wars” movie in almost 20 years, “Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”
Yet competition was coming. In the summer of 2000, the theater survived a wave of closings when Carmike Cinemas, Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection.
That fall, the 12-screen Manchester Cinemas opened in Rock Hill to compete with Carmike Cinema 7 and Regal Galleria Cinemas. Manchester brought something new, adding stadium seating that became popular at the time as the industry transitioned from slant-floor theaters.
Cinema 7 was one of 390 Carmike theaters still open in early 2001 when Carmike Cinemas, Inc. was removed from the list of companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
That same year, the Rock Hill theater was open seven days a week but showing all films for $1.50 — well below the average first-run movie ticket price at the time. The theater began showing movies after they’d played at other theaters.
AMC Theatres bought Carmike Cinemas in 2016 for $1.1 billion, becoming the largest theater company in the world.
COVID movie theater closures
Movie theaters around the region and country closed with the COVID pandemic hit in early 2020.
Later that fall, AMC reopened hundreds of theaters across the country. Cinema 7, by then called AMC Classic Rock Hill 7, wasn’t one of them. The company website listed the site as permanently closed and directed movie-goers or gift card holders to the nearest theater in Pineville, North Carolina.
At the time, a company spokesperson told the Charlotte Observer the closure was a business decision “not necessarily due to COVID.”
The theater site has been vacant since.
Another developer submitted a plan to the city in 2021 to put income-restricted housing there. It would’ve allowed 84 apartments in four, four-story buildings. The city planning commission unanimously recommended a rezoning to allow it, but Rock Hill City Council rejected it.
Doggett didn’t want to run a movie theater, but also didn’t want to see the building come down if it wasn’t necessary.
The movie theaters provide natural breaks for different business tenants. They’re also separated by load-bearing walls, so it made sense to keep the general layout, he said.
“There is virtually no options for small conditioned warehouse space from South Charlotte down through Rock Hill.” Doggett said.
Meanwhile, Rock Hill residents still have plenty of movie theater options.
Regal Manchester is still showing films off Dave Lyle Boulevard. It isn’t too far to RedStone 14 in Indian Land, Ayrsley Grand Cinemas in Charlotte or AMC Carolina Pavilion 22 in Pineville.
This story was originally published April 18, 2024 at 6:20 AM.
