It’s the end of an era in Beaufort. Demolition on the Plaza Stadium Movie Theater in Beaufort Plaza Shopping Center has started and will be completed early next week as the theater and adjoining buildings are being torn down to make way for a new Publix supermarket.
The 44 year old movie theater, along with the automotive garage behind it and other retail space will be demolished to build the 48,000-square-foot grocery store, according to documents owner Paul Trask filed with the city.
As stated in previous articles, upgrades are also planned for the rest of the shopping center including storefronts, resurfacing sidewalks, painting facades, new LED lighting and replacing signs, the documents show.
Additional information also has a new liquor store opening in the plaza, whose owner hopes to have it open when Publix rolls in, “because Publix will make this a much more vibrant shopping center,” she said.
The 12,000-square-foot movie theater was built in 1975 and now that it’s gone that leaves just the Highway 21 Drive In (named the #2 drive in the America) as the only spot in Beaufort to catch a movie. Unless you want to make the drive to Bluffton.
Demolition work on the theater and adjoining buildings started on Thursday, and a spokesman for the crew told us that the work should be completed by next Wednesday.
Here is some video from our Facebook page of the theater demolition, recorded on Friday, October 4th.
