The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on businesses across America, decimating the movie theater industry.
The latest casualty is the AMC Mazza Gallerie 7, which permanently closed in Friendship Heights.
On Friday, the AMC Theatres website posted: “AMC Mazza Gallerie 7 Has Permanently Closed. We hope to see you at our next nearest location: AMC Courthouse Plaza 8.”
Mazza Gallerie has become a ghost town since the pandemic began. The 294,000-square-foot retail center sold in August to Annaly Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. for $38 million in a foreclosure auction after its owner, an affiliate of New York’s Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., defaulted on $67.1 million in loans it took out to purchase the property in 2017.
The movie theater closure comes a year after AMC permanently shuttered the historic Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park in March, unrelated to the nationwide pandemic shutdown.
At the time, AMC Director of Corporate Communications Ryan Noonan told WTOP, “We offer our sincere gratitude to the community for their support of the theatre and invite them to visit [nearby] AMC Mazza Gallerie 7,” but now that no longer exists.
Nationwide, 60% of existing movie theaters remain closed.
