Palace to close out operations today

The south-side Palace theater is slated to close today after 21 years in operation.

Life360 Church announced earlier this year it was in the due diligence phase to buy the Palace-leased property at 2220 W. Chesterfield Blvd. A Life360 official could not be reached for comment this morning on the status of the purchase.

Rebranded as the Premiere Palace in August, the discount theater in Chesterfield Village began showing first-run films at slightly higher prices than before.

Today’s schedule closes out with a 9:45 p.m. showing of “Wonder Woman.” Seven other movies are slated to run today, according to the company’s website.

“Thank you to everyone who has worked at the Palace over the last 21 years,” officials with Wichita, Kansas-based Warren Theatres LLC said via Facebook. “It has been an honor to get to know you. You were truly the heart and soul of this theater.”

The Greene County assessor’s website lists the property’s owner as Chesterfield Village creator Dearborn Development Inc. The assessor’s listing was last updated yesterday.

Life360 has plans to relocate its Park Crest campus at 3581 S. Kansas Ave. to the nearly 29,000-square-foot theater. It sold the Park Crest campus to New Covenant Academy in April, but is still leasing space at the South Kansas Avenue property. Last week, a rezoning bill of the Palace property scheduled to go before City Council was moved to July 10 because the Planning & Zoning Commission was still considering the request.

As the Palace closes, another theater is opening.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema owner John Martin last month told Springfield Business Journal its Springfield theater at 4005 South Ave. would open during the second week of June. Martin could not be reached for comment by deadline, and the Springfield theater’s Facebook page does not list an opening date.