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    • Market Basket buys Seekonk Showcase Cinemas property. What are the plans?
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    Market Basket buys Seekonk Showcase Cinemas property. What are the plans?

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    Market Basket bought the property for $9.5 million

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    SEEKONK, Massachusetts – Demoulas Super Markets, the parent company of Market Basket, has acquired the Showcase Cinemas property in Seekonk in a leaseback deal with the cinema company.

    According to land records, the deal was worth $9.5 million and was signed in July.

    An unnamed Showcase Cinemas spokesperson wrote in a one-line statement that the theater had been sold and the property was currently under a leaseback agreement.

    In total, the property is 16.4 acres and is located at 100 Commercial Way, surrounded by major supermarkets and shopping centers, including a Target, a Walmart, a Kohl’s, a Best Buy and a Lowe’s Home Improvement. The theater is surrounded by massive parking lots on three sides.

    What was the estimated value of the property?

    In 2024, the property was valued at $6 million, less than in 2009, when it was valued at $8.4 million.

    Market Basket did not respond to a request for comment.

    Will the cinema stay?

    Showcase Cinemas’ statement did not specify how much time the theater has left in the premises, and the company did not respond to further questions.

    Leaseback deals, in which a company sells a property and leases all or part of it back from the new owner and continues to operate there, are common. They recently came into the spotlight when seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy. Much of the bankruptcy is attributed to a bad leaseback deal that cost $190 million a year in rent.

    Showcase theater under renovation

    Showcase has renovated its theaters. For some, that means replacing stadium seats with much larger electric recliners. While the interior of the Seekonk theater looks clean and fresh, it still has stadium seating, similar to the ones found at Showcase Cinemas on Providence Place.

    (The IMAX theater at Providence Place has wide stadium seats that do not recline.)

    In 2021, Showcase renovated its Warwick theater at 1200 Quaker Lane with the new seats. Showcase closed its theater next to Warwick Mall during the pandemic and subsequently did not renew the lease. It has since been replaced by Apple Cinemas. Its theater in North Attleboro also features the new reclining seats.

    The old Seekonk Theater is being converted into a residential building

    The former Showcase Cinemas site in Seekonk on Fall River Avenue is slated to be converted into a 240-unit residential development, according to The Sun Chronicle.

    Where are Market Basket stores located in Rhode Island and the surrounding area?

    Market Basket has two locations in Rhode Island and two stores just across the state line, in Attleboro and Fall River, Massachusetts.

    • Warwick: 25 Pace Blvd.
    • Johnston: 1300 Hartford Ave.
    • Attleboro: 1200 Newport Ave.
    • Fall River: 600 William Canning Blvd.

    Where are the Showcase Cinemas in and around Rhode Island?

    • Providence: Providence Place Shopping Center, 10 Providence Place
    • Warwick: 1200 Quaker Lane
    • North Attleboro: 640 South Washington St.
    • Seekonk: 100 Commerce Way

    We thank our subscribers who make this reporting possible. If you are not a subscriber, please support quality local journalism with a subscription to the Providence Journal. Here is our latest offer.

    Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

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    Madoc Meredith
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