Holladay Center Cinema closes; new owner coming Oct. 17

Say goodbye to the Holladay Center Cinema — but only for a couple of weeks.

Utah-based Westates Theatres has closed the six-screen theater at 1945 E. Murray-Holladay Road in Holladay.

"We'd like to thank you for all the great years of support," says a voice on a repeating phone message when one calls the theater.

The message adds — and a Facebook page confirms — that Utah County's Water Gardens Theatres, which runs movie multiplexes in Pleasant Grove and Spanish Fork (and one in Kailua, Hawaii — who knew?), will be taking over the Holladay. The theater is scheduled to reopen Oct. 17, remodeled and with digital projection installed.

The Holladay Center opened in 1988, part of the Cineplex Odeon chain. Westates took it over in 2001, when Cineplex Odeon went bankrupt.

The shift means Westates, once a major player in Utah movie exhibition, no longer runs a theater in the Beehive State. The chain sold 11 locations to the Megaplex Theatres chain in April 2012. It continues to operate theaters in Elko, Nev.; Page, Ariz., and Montpelier, Idaho.