Blackhawk movie theater shuttered after more than three decades

Danville’s only movie theater has become the latest casualty in Blackhawk Plaza, once an affluent go-to hangout spot.

The decision to close Century Blackhawk Plaza theater was sudden, Austin Jeha, assistant manager of the theater told this news organization. After weeks of back-and-forth lease renewal negotiations with the property owners, the popular theater had its last day of operation on Dec. 3, ending more than three decades of showing movies.

“They were trying to raise our lease price pretty significantly,” Jeha said in an interview. He said the regional manager attempted to negotiate a compromise, offering to pay more but not as much as the owners were asking. “It was pretty heated. The property managers just did not want to even budge ever so slightly.”

Taking to the neighborhood app Nextdoor to make the announcement, Jeha said he was shocked and heartbroken.

“I’ve had the pleasure of serving both the nicest and meanest customers and had the pleasure of having the best colleagues that anyone can work with,” he said.

Comments under his post showed showed that many felt the move was predictable, with some describing the once-thriving shopping area at Camino Tassajara and Blackhawk Road as having gone downhill over the last few years, with many business and restaurant favorites leaving without being replaced.

“It’s a ghost town,” Keith Petersen of Danville wrote in one comment. “I’m surprised that anyone can run a business over there. They need to revamp the plaza, or they’ll tear it down and put homes.”

Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich in an interview said the closing of movie theaters across the county is a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and not unique to the East Bay or the Blackhawk Plaza. He also added that he believes the plaza’s failure to thrive has much to do with its location.

“The Blackhawk Shopping Center is an example of how not to design a successful site plan or shopping center,” he said. “While it is physically beautiful, it is the best example of a very bad design — out of sight and out of mind.”

Jeha said in an interview that he began expecting the inevitable soon after Crunch Fitness closed in 2020. “It was actually for similar reasons, because the management wanted to have a lease price. And (the gym owners) couldn’t afford it. So they just ended up moving out,” Jeha said.

In 2020, the theater was purchased by Orange County’s Newport Beach-based Ramanujan Group, led by real estate executive Deba Shyam, according to Contra Costa County real estate records.

Representatives of JLL, the company charged with leasing out businesses in the plaza, did not respond to multiple phone calls as of Thursday afternoon.