On Monday, the Parkplace Cinema will feature its final film, appropriately titled “Last Picture Show,” before closing as the property is on the cusp of redevelopment.
Jeff Cole, who manages Parkplace and who has been involved with the independent theater since 2001, said they tried to find a way to keep it open once Talon Capital announced their plans to redevelopment Parkplace, including the theater, but decided it was time to close.
“At my age I’m not willing to move forward when there’s too much risk, too much capital,” he said. “I think it’ll be a good time for the community to come and say goodbye to the theater.”
However, he said that they’re trying to get one of the digital projectors, owned by a separate leasing company, in the Kirkland Performance Center to show for smaller films.
“I’m working on that but don’t know if I’ll be successful,” he said.
Although an agreement hasn’t been reached, Cole said that so far the discussion has been positive.
“Everybody seems in agreement,” he said.
First a Sterling Realty Organization theater in 1983, it later became a Loews Cineplex until 2001 when Loews went bankrupt and repudiated the lease. The former owner of Parkplace asked Cole to figure out what to do with the space, and he concluded that Kirkland still needed a theater. They bought Loews’ assets and opened it as an independent movie theater right in time for the first Harry Potter film.
Prior to this, Cole said, he had never run a theater before. One of the many things he discovered from the experience was navigating the world of studio contracts, negotiating 27 of them prior to the theater’s opening. Right now, they have around 36.
“It’s a fun little business,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about the business, but it was fun.”
In 2007, when the Parkplace owners sold the property to Prudential, Cole and his wife Chris McKenzie bought the theater.
On top of hosting series featuring Bogart and Hitchcock films, Cole said they also had the pleasure of working with local high school students, some of whom even came back to work during their winter break after going away to college.
“It was fun working with the youth and the community and usually it’s their first job,” he said.
In recent years, the theater faced possible closure after film studios announced they would only release their movies digitally. Operating with 35 mm projectors, the theater wasn’t able to get a loan from the bank to purchase the digital equipment. In 2014, the Kirkland City Council passed a resolution allowing them to use the seat tax within ticket prices to help cover the costs.
No matter the number of attendants for the final movie, the theater has already gone out with a bang following the premiere of the latest Star Wars film, “The Force Awakens.”
“It was crazy,” Cole said. “People, kids were coming in with costumes and their lightsabers and it was very special.”
The masterplan for the new Parkplace site, renamed Kirkland Urban, includes a theater as part of the mixed-use development, and although the theater won’t be his, Cole said he hopes the show goes on.
“I think this community deserves a movie theater,” he said.
The film showing will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be featured on all six screens, with a total of seven hundred seats. Proceeds from the box office will be split evenly to benefit the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, Kirkland Downtown Association, and Kirkland Performance Center.
