ROCK HILL — As the curtains are pulled back on a former Rock Hill movie theater, a new business venture takes the stage.
Five years after the AMC Cinema 7 on Cherry Road closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a developer has turned the building into the AMC Flex Space, set to begin leasing seven industrial flex spaces to local businesses this fall.
The new venture isn’t associated with the theater chain, but developer Doug Doggett said he wanted to retain some of the nostalgia for the place where families and couples once watched blockbusters like “Independence Day” and “Jurassic Park.”
“I talked to my trademark attorney, and they said I can keep the AMC sign on the building,” said Doggett, who is also the CEO of Doggett Concrete Construction in Charlotte.
The sign is not all the theatre chain left behind. Before the renovation began, contractors had to clear out the seats, remove film projectors and take down the curtains in each of the seven theater rooms, Doggett said.
Still, anyone walking through AMC Flex Space, expected to open by the end of October, will see the clear indications that it used to be a movie theater.
The winding entrances to each of the former theaters, now serving as warehouse space, are still there. The projector rooms have been converted into loft-style office spaces.
And when the place opens, the walls will feature movie posters from “Top Gun,” “The Hunt For Red October” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
The biggest change brought by the construction was leveling the sloped theater floors, Doggett said. Flat surfaces in the spacious rooms will allow for an industrial company to store vehicles or equipment there, said Mike Sposato, the realtor for the property.
The concept is called “industrial flex,” which provides a mix of industrial and office space for businesses, he said.
Doggett said the Summerville-based Palmetto Landscaping and Design is one of the first tenants that will move in. A dance studio has also signed a lease.
He said the space may also appeal to individuals like car collectors who may need a space to store their rides.
The possibilities are endless for tenants at AMC Flex Space, but Doggett said he had a difficult time finding a property in the Charlotte area where he could build the concept.
“My real estate agent showed me the theater,“ he said. “I looked at it and I didn’t see it just as a theater. I saw the concept of flattening out the floors and putting in overhead doors.”
Doggett could have knocked the building down and started from scratch. Some in Rock Hill wanted him to do just that.
“You see some of the old pictures, and it was more of a utilitarian, oversized brick,” he said. “They thought the building was ugly, and it needed to be torn down. I said, ‘Well, wait till I finish it.’”