St. Johns 8 Theater

Lost Memory on February 19, 2007 at 5:23 pm

This is an 11/22/2002 article about the closing of this theater.

“Jacksonville, Fla., Movie Theater to Be Demolished or Turned Into House Stores.

The Florida Times-Union
By Earl Daniels

Nov. 22—The end. And a beginning.

The scene is changing at a vacant Westside movie theater that was built in the 1960s. Yesterday, a week after the last movie credits rolled 10 days ago on the screens at St. Johns 8 Theatre, the theater’s former owners removed movie projectors and other equipment to turn the property over to new owners.

Jacksonville developer Toney Sleiman recently bought the theater at 4530 St. Johns Ave. for an undisclosed amount from StarNet Cinemas, a Jacksonville company that operates eight theaters, including three in Jacksonville.

Sleiman, president of Sleiman Enterprises, said the theater building will be demolished or renovated to house stores.

He said it will take about six months to get the permits to build the center and an additional six months to build the 40,000 square feet of retail space.

Sleiman said the company will build a shopping center with two large retailers and an upscale restaurant, or a center with 8 to 10 smaller stores, depending on the demand from retailers.

He said he would not disclose the retailers' names because the plans are preliminary. However, the owner of a national restaurant chain that does not have a restaurant in the Jacksonville area, is interested in opening at the site, Sleiman said.

The shopping center will be located at the southwest corner of St. Johns Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard. Meanwhile, some theater patrons are surprised at the theater’s closing.

Bill Homer, president of StarNet, said since the theater closed last Thursday, would-be moviegoers have stopped by to question him about the theater’s future. Homer and other StarNet officials have been at the theater removing equipment, such as a popcorn machine and food warmers.

“That’s it? You’re closed for good?” said Luther Fennell, who stopped by the theater this week with his wife, Betty. Through the window of their pick-up truck, the couple told Homer that they will miss the theater. And Homer leaned toward the window and thanked them for their support.

“We stopped by to see what was playing,” Fennell said. “This is what we spend our discretionary income on. I have been coming here since I was a kid. The prices were good, and the customer service was excellent. Now, I guess I will have to go to Orange Park. And I hate that.”

Fennell’s wife expressed the significance of the theater to the couple. “It was our home away from home.”

The theater opened in 1969 as a single-screen theater and over the years it expanded to eight screens, Homer said. Three years ago, Homer, his wife, Sarah, and business partner Bill Mago bought Kent Theaters, a Jacksonville company that owned several local theaters. St. Johns 8 was one of the theaters they picked up in purchase. Later that same year, they changed the company’s name to StarNet.

StarNet operates Jax 10 Cinemas at 6681 103rd St. Homer invited the Fennells to see movies there, now that St. Johns 8 is closed.

The 10 employees who worked at St. Johns 8 were offered jobs at the other theaters the company operates in Jacksonville, Homer said.

Business was good at St. Johns 8, Homer said. He expects business to spike at Jax 10 as a result of St. Johns 8 closure because it is nearby.

Keeping the projectors rolling was not an option for Sleiman and his three brothers. They’re in the business of building shopping centers.

He and one of his brothers were in search of Westside land to build a shopping center on because two of their clients want to open stores there.

While Sleiman brothers have developed stores on the Westside, including a Winn-Dixie and a Blockbuster Video store on Normandy Boulevard, most of their development work has taken place on the city’s Southside.

“That’s just because I live on the Southside and I see that area all the time,” said Sleiman, the company’s president".