MOUNT PLEASANT — The screens at Regal Cinebarre are now dark after a Charlotte-based company that owns several commercial properties in the Charleston area bought the movie theater in one of the town’s designated redevelopment centers.
Collett Capital, with Charleston-based partner Buxton Development Group, paid $14.25 million for the 7-acre theater property on Houston Northcutt Boulevard on Nov. 16, according to Charleston County land records.
“Plans for the site have not been finalized,” said Tyler Covington, a principal at Collett Capital. “The team looks forward to working with the town of Mount Pleasant and other local stakeholders to revitalize the property.”
A representative of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based entertainment company did not respond for comment, but a theater worker on the site who was helping to tie up loose ends said the business closed about two weeks ago.
A sign at the 33,000-square-foot, shuttered theater directs movie-goers to Regal’s nearby screens in Palmetto Grande about five miles north at Mount Pleasant Towne Centre.
Whatever is developed at the site. It will not be another movie theater for the foreseeable future. The sales agreement restricts Collett Capital or a future property owner from selling or leasing the site for a commercial movie theater for the next 20 years.
The theater is in a 175-acre area designated as a redevelopment center along Houston Northcutt Boulevard near Town Hall. Collett’s website refers to the site as “Houston Northcutt Redevelopment.”
Under the town’s 10-year comprehensive plan, the site could be redeveloped for commercial uses such as stores and offices.
The plan also limits residential construction to one house per acre in redeveloped areas, but the theater site most likely would not be redeveloped for housing since the town’s elected leaders have little appetite for more homes or apartments in the sprawling Charleston-area suburb.
Regal Cinemas bought the property in 2005 for $3.09 million, land records show.
COVID-19 hit the movie industry hard, forcing the theater to be closed for all but a couple of months last year after the outbreak in March 2020. It reopened earlier this year in May.
Regal also owns one other venue in the Charleston area at Azalea Square in Summerville.
Collett Capital is no stranger to the Lowcountry real estate market. In the Charleston area, in addition to the theater site, the company owns Dorchester Village Shopping Center on Dorchester Road in Summerville, the 71-unit Haddon Hall Apartments in West Ashley, and The Shelmore, a former Bi-Lo grocery store redeveloped into office space in Mount Pleasant.
Covington pointed out a separate entity called Collett shares the same address as Collett Capital, but they are different companies. In the Charleston area, Collett manages Fairfax retail center on St. James Avenue in Goose Creek and is developing Cedar Grove Shopping Center on Dorchester Road in North Charleston.