Renovated Mainstreet Theater Wants To Be Movie-Lover Oasis

By Brenna Hawley

With the swipe of a saber, the Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet movie theater reopened Thursday after more than a month of renovations.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema founder and CEO Tim League celebrated his first Kansas City movie theater, which is at 14th and Main streets in Downtown, by helping local officials use a saber to open champagne bottles.

The renovations to the theater, formerly run by AMC Entertainment Inc., included eliminating the front ticketing desk, installing dine-in seats for all six screens and expanding the kitchen. The expanded food service also increased the number of employees to 90.

“We’re thrilled that you’ve been breathing life into this fabulous building,” said Mike Hurt, marketing director of the Downtown Council of Kansas City.

The renovations reduced the number of seats, but League said he prefers to make the whole theater uniform by offering food at all screens. The largest theater, No. 1, lost 100 seats, dropping to 197. But the renovations are meant to improve the viewing experience.

“We want this to be an oasis for movie-lovers,” he said.

Alamo’s signature is pairing interesting menu items with its movies; it’s hosting a spaghetti western night with a spaghetti feast. With the December release of the Hobbit, the kitchen will prepare an 11-course Shire-themed menu.

It also hosts a number of events besides showing mainstream movies, such as quote-alongs, action packs and girlie nights. “Old School,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet” are on tap for the next week at the theater.

The response to the Drafthouse so far has been good, League said. People still are curious about the new brand, so for the grand opening, it will be “a bright shiny penny” for new patrons.

The upstairs theaters, Nos. 4-6, seat far fewer moviegoers and align with the theater’s mission to cater to private events. Also fitting into that plan is the Chesterfield, the movie theater’s bar space, as well as its mezzanine area.

How those areas fare will determine whether and when Alamo proceeds on a second renovation phase. Possibilities for that phase include renovating the former concessions area to offer more beers and making changes to the Chesterfield and mezzanine. The theater has a number of holiday parties already scheduled, so how those work in the space will show League what needs to stay the same or be changed.

At this point, League has no concrete plans for expanding Alamo’s presence in Kansas City. First, the Mainstreet theater must prove itself financially viable. Then, the real estate must be available. But League said if things pan out, he’d be interested in more local theaters.

The Mainstreet theater originally operated under the AMC brand in partnership with Kansas City Power & Light District manager The Cordish Co. AMC left the venture in June, and Alamo signed a lease with Cordish.