Last fall, the Weekly reported on plans to bring Eclipse Theaters Downtown, with eight movie screens, leather seats, specialty programming, a bar and a projected June opening. While it turns out Downtowners won’t get to see Warcraft, the Finding Nemo sequel and other summer popcorn features without schlepping to the suburbs, managing director Nic Steele says he expects to open the three-story, 72,000-square foot cineplex at Third Street and Gass Avenue by September. “We have 60 to 80 people working on it on any given day,” he says, adding that the building’s framing is up, and the exterior alone will be “completely done” within 30 days.
Eclipse needed a first-floor anchor tenant—the theaters, bar and restaurant will occupy the second floor, with 4,000 square feet of event space and two private suite boxes taking up the third floor—and now has one in 21 Greens, an upscale golf arcade where you can swing at 18 holes in just two hours via 18-by-12 simulator booths that recreate 25 PGA courses. “It’s perfect for after work,” Steele says.
In the meantime, prospective patrons can currently buy $100 or $500 gift cards to Eclipse at a 20 percent discount (and with member perks) at EclipseTheaters.com.
