Sun-Ray Cinema, the independent Five Points movie theater, announced plans to expand into the former Kmart space at 9600 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.
Sun-Ray announced Saturday on Facebook that it is “on the path to a second Sun-Ray,” in Mandarin. The post included an interior seating plan for the five-screen theater.
The theater will have 600 seats, said Margie Seaman, president of Seaman Realty and Management Co., who will represent Sun-Ray in the lease with building owner Ash Properties.
The theater will be similar to Sun-Ray’s two-screen Five Points location at 1028 Park St., showing independent movies along with mainstream options and offer an expanded menu.
Ash Properties has plans to sign a food-related tenant to the property as well, Seaman said.
Sun-Ray owners Tim Massett and Shana David-Massett did not respond to calls, emails or social media requests for comment.
Seaman said they looked at locations at the Beaches, but weren’t able to find a space that worked.
They hadn’t considered Mandarin, but after seeing the property, thought it could be an interesting spot for a second location, she said.
In responding to Facebook comments, Sun-Ray said when the Mandarin location opens, it would renovate one of its Five Points screening rooms and it would remain open through the renovation.
There’s no timetable for when it would be open, Seaman said. Once build-out begins, it could be complicated since stadium seating will need to be built in five rooms.
The Facebook post received more than 350 comments and 1,500 likes.
“It will still be a very artful and loosely bohemian bastion of entertainment, but this time in Mandarin instead of in Riverside,” Seaman said. “The people in Mandarin are just spilling over. There’s so much enthusiasm.”
The Mandarin Kmart closed in 2016. Ash Properties subsidiary Atlantic Mini Storage of America Inc. bought the 106,000-square-foot property for almost $4.4 million later in 2016.
“It’s a huge eyesore and it’s a shame,” Seaman said. “It should be an epicenter of Mandarin. It’s a big piece of real estate. So, finally, it will be manifesting itself.”
