Washington Imax theater demolished

An Imax building is Spokane, Washington, will undergo an expedited demolition Jan. 29 instead of its original March date, a report by The Seattle Times says. The demolition will begin at 1 p.m. and will take most of the week. Crews will use high-reach excavaters to tear the building down little by little.

The decision to demolish the building came in September 2016. A master plan for the area’s redevelopment, which was agreed to in 2014, called to close the Imax because of declining revenues. In September 2017, the city auctioned off most of the building’s seats, large metal film packing cases, audio equipment, vinyl banners, posters and more.

Fianna Dickson, spokeswoman for the parks departments, says in the report some of the materials went back to Imax and was used to refurbish other historic theaters in the U.S.

The Imax in Spokane was built in 1978 and had a peak attendance of 106,000 visitors in 2005. The report says the opening of an Imax screen at an AMC Cinema in River Park Square and the loss of licensing to show big-budget films in 2009 caused a decline in revenues. In 2012, the theater lost $342,000 and had an average attendance rate of 36,500 people.

There are no plans to replace the building with a new structure.