Alamo Drafthouse will open at Downtown LA’s The Bloc in 2018

A long-awaited Los Angeles location for popular Texas-based movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse is finally set to arrive in Downtown LA next year.

The movie theater announced yesterday that it would open at The Bloc in 2018. News that an Alamo Drafthouse location would open at the complex first broke in 2014 (after the company flirted with the idea of a Historic Core location next to the Medallion Apartments), but a series of delays prevented the theater from opening on time. It was originally set to arrive in 2015, but the Bloc complex itself did not open to the public until June of 2016.

The $180 million redevelopment of the formerly fortress-like Macy’s shopping plaza has faced a number of difficulties since it was announced in 2012, including construction delays, financing issues, and the loss of several high-profile clients.

Peter Hudnut, retail development manager for The Bloc, tells Curbed that repositioning a familiar property “always takes a little longer,” but that the Bloc is back on track. He says the recent opening of a pedestrian portal connecting the shopping center to Metro’s Seventh Street subway station has greatly increased foot traffic.

The number of tenants is also on the rise. According to Hudnut, more than 60 percent of the office space in the complex is now leased. Now that Alamo Drafthouse has officially signed on, 76 percent of the retail space is leased as well.

The theater will eventually be situated in the southwest corner of the complex, where construction crews are now installing new elevators and escalators to carry moviegoers to its second and third level location.

The theater, which will also serve food and alcoholic beverages (hence the “drafthouse” part of the name), will include 12 screens and 560 seats. The theater will include both a state of the art digital projection system for new releases and a 35 mm projection system that will be used to display classic films.

• $9.3M pedestrian tunnel from Metro station to Downtown LA shopping mall is now open [Curbed LA]
• Downtown LA’s New Open-Air Mall Opening This Week [Curbed LA]
• Check Out the New Airy, Open Look of Downtown's 'The Bloc' [Curbed LA]