Movie theater to reopen at Pittsburgh Mills

The shuttered movie theaters at the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer will reopen this spring under new management that promises cheaper movie tickets.

Mark McSparin, president of Michigan-based GQT Movies, confirmed Thursday that the company is taking over the former Cinemark space.

It has a tentative opening date of March 1.

The move comes a little less than a year after Cinemark announced plans to leave the struggling mall, which has had trouble getting and retaining tenants in recent years.

“I think it’s going to be able to do a lot for the mall,” McSparin said. “I think it’s going to drive a lot of traffic to that area.”

GQT Movies formed in July, a few months after Goodrich Quality Theaters filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the company’s website. GQT Movies now operates 22 of the 31 former Goodrich Quality Theaters locations in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, its website says.

The movie company is owned by three partners: McSparin, Igal Namdar and Elliot Nassim. Namdar is the CEO of Namdar Realty Group, and Nassim is the president of Mason Asset Management.

Those companies own and manage the Mills mall.

McSparin also owns VIP Cinemas and has done business with Namdar and Nassim at other malls they own.

“We had a familiarity, and I brought them this opportunity on GQT Movies,” McSparin said. “I was aware that Goodrich Quality Theaters was in bankruptcy, and I brought them the deal, and we put a deal together to partner and buy it.”

McSparin thinks the partnership could help revitalize the Mills mall.

“I think that’s a very nice mall. I know malls are struggling all over, but … I’m just a little bit surprised that the mall doesn’t do better than it does, because all the surrounding retail seems to be there and doing business,” McSparin said. “I think we could probably reinvigorate the mall, hopefully. Especially the food court, sitting right there next to the theaters.”

The current space is an 18-screen theater. McSparin said the space is in extremely good shape and doesn’t need to be renovated.

Starting with 6 screens

The company will open six screens to start, assess the market and theater traffic, and go from there.

“Obviously, like everything else, we’re all dealing with covid. … That’s going to temper what we do in the future as far as the number of screens we open and the time frame of when we open them,” McSparin said. “The goal is to have all 18 screens open probably within a year’s time.”

McSparin said the theater will sell typical movie fare such as popcorn, candy and soda pop, as well as finger foods such as popcorn chicken and popcorn shrimp, chicken tenders, sliders, fries and onion rings. There are no immediate plans to offer alcohol.

“My personal opinion and my personal conviction is people should go to the movie theaters to watch a movie,” McSparin said.

Ticket prices will be $6.99 for an evening movie, $5.99 for a matinee and $4.99 for showings before noon.

“We’re coming in as a value-priced alternative in the market,” McSparin said. “We’ll be cheaper than Cinemark. We’ll have the same amenities, we’ll have the same theater, we’ll have the same seats.

“We’ll have everything they had before, only we’ll probably be about 30% cheaper on tickets and we’ll probably be about 40% cheaper on concessions.”

Frazer Supervisor Lori Ziencik said GQT Movies will be a welcome addition to the mall, which has attracted other entertainment-based tenants as of late. The ScareHouse haunted attraction and Turf Attack, an indoor Nerf gun arena, moved to the mall last year.

“A lot of people have missed the movie theater,” Ziencik said. “I hope it’s a great addition.”

Officials with Mason Asset Management told the Tribune-Review in December they were in the process of filling the former Cinemark, and in conversations with retailers that had expressed interest in taking over the former J.C. Penney and Sears spaces.

“We are remaining optimistic and look forward to the opportunity to continue identifying new and different tenants for Pittsburgh Mills,” officials said.

GQT Movies also plans to open new theater locations in Montgomery, Ala., and North Forsyth, Ill., according to its website.