Center Theater

Center Theater marquee. Photo by Phil Frana.

The Center Theater is a defunct movie house at 407 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Center Theater closed its doors for the last time on March 31, 1977, reopening that same year as the Hot Air Balloon Theater, a children's theater, during the period of Metrocentre mall improvements. The Center Theater is one of four former movie houses located along Main Street. The others were the Main Theater, the New Theater, and the Roxy Theater.

The Center Theater is owned by Stephens Group chief executive officer Warren Stephens, who purchased the structure in 2001 for $125,000. A $2.5 million plan to turn the building into a 281-seat dinner theater venue, art-house theater, or make it the anchor for a new downtown "theater campus" is apparently moribund.

References

• Leroy Donald, "Let's Stroll Down the New Mall ...," Arkansas Gazette, October 2, 1977.
• Bill W. Hornaday, "LR Again Rolls the Dice: Downtown Revival $500 Million Price Tag on Main Street Plan a Hitch, and Developers Aren't on Same Page," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 2, 2005.
• Kane Webb, "Beauty and Blight: Little Rock's Diametrical Downtown," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette October 7, 2007.