Round Lake Beach officials have announced that a Rollins Road cinema will be transformed into a new family entertainment center featuring movie screens, a restaurant, an ax launch and an interior kart track.
The ease of 72,000 square feet at 550 E. Rollins Road will also include games, a bar and a space for meetings and parties, officials said.
The indoor Go-Kart track will be on several levels and will use electric vehicles.
Irving Thakkar developers, Texas, should submit final plans for the development of summer 2025, with a large opening scheduled for 2026, officials said.
“We are delighted with the plans that we have already seen by the developer,” said the mayor of Round Lake Beach, Scott Nickles.
“When this installation opens, it will offer something for everyone and will really be a major attraction for Round Lake Beach, attracting not only residents of our village, but also visitors from the whole lake and counties of Mchenry,” said Nickles.
The cinema has been closed since January 2023 due to the bankruptcy of Regal cinemas and the subsequent closure of 39 locations on a national scale.
“This new project will not only create local employment opportunities, but it will also position Round Lake Beach as an essential destination for Lake County families,” said Gil Rivera, director of economic development of the village of Round Lake Beach.
Round Lake Beach officials recently visited the concept in Texas, officials said.
With the transformation of the property, the entertainment center will join the existing community partners to provide retail, food and family entertainment places in the community.
“This project, as well as the addition of new restaurants currently in development, is a continuation of the vision of the mayor and the board of directors to improve our retail and already dynamic entertainment corridor,” said Gil Rivera.
The closed theater was a target for past vandals, according to the records.
The police and firefighters responding to a fire alarm discovered damage caused by fire in April 2024.
The prosecutors said that two vacant building theaters were swallowed up in the flames during the criminal fire and that the hall was destroyed, the estimates of damage to at least $ 100,000.
Anthony P. Shields, 20, from Lake Villa, and David M. DOLAN, 19, of Lake Villa, were both accused of a criminal fire chief, a class 2 crime, due to the fire.