Historic, seedy and possibly haunted Market Street Cinema at 1077 Market Street has joined the march to oblivion, as its owners have agreed to sell to a developer who will raze the 101-year-old movie house turned strip joint turned turned ghost palace. The Business Times reports that an eight-story condo building with include 7,500 square feet of retail and 24 parking spaces will take the place of the Mid-Market landmark, adding to the rapid gentrification of the neighborhood which has already seen new additions like Twitter's headquarters and the yuppified NEMA building.
The 12,375 square foot building is currently owned by strip joint magnates Harry Mohney and the Forbes family, whose company Deja Vu Inc. owns about 75 adult entertainment complexes across the country. The sale will go to Encore Housing Opportunity Fund, which plans to sell condo units as opposed to following the predominantly rental-focused nearby developments.
No word yet on how future condo owners will react to the site's notorious ghosts, which were the subject of an Ghost Adventures episode on the Travel Channel and inspired a schlocky horror movie called G-String Horror, which looks just about how it sounds. As an FYI to future buyers, Internet consensus shows the even after a building is demolished, ghosts will typically still haunt the land and whatever is built there next, but who knows in this town. Perhaps ghost strippers will add to the property value?
Because the building is well over 50 years old, its demolition will be subject to review by the Planning Department. But while the old theater probably has more history on its bathroom ceiling than we're comfortable contemplating, we just can't see a deus ex machina descending to snatch up the building and restore it to its former glory as a moviehouse (or otherwise).
Market Street Cinema: we'd ask you to rest in peace, but we know you won't.
Previously: What Will Become of the Historic, Quite Possibly Haunted, Market Street Cinema?
