ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – SunRay Cinema is asking its customers to reach out to St. Johns County commissioners in hopes of saving North Florida’s largest screen.
The call comes as the deadline approaches for The World Golf Hall of Fame to depart the World Golf Village in September. The county commissioners don’t yet have a plan for what to do with the property, including the IMAX theater, which features a screen 80 feet wide and 50 feet high.
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SunRay Cinema, a historic two-screen movie theater in 5 Points, made a post on social media asking its followers to email commissioners.
“They (St. Johns County Commissioners) are looking for public feedback so if any of you would like to see Sun-Ray take over operations at the former World Golf Village IMAX maybe you could send them a note expressing that?” the post said. “BTW, if this ever came together we would definitely be reinstalling 70MM projectors.”
Related: World Golf Hall of Fame, IMAX property in St. Johns County will cease operations in September
The social media post also listed a bunch of St. Johns County commissioners’ emails.
The IMAX theater at World Golf Village will stop operating on Sept. 2, according to Jess Munroe, the Senior Director and Guest Services Operations at the World Golf Hall of Fame & IMAX.
The theater alone is almost 18,000 square feet and will still include its movie equipment, which the theater company is leaving behind. If another company were to take over operating the theater, the equipment would likely need an upgrade over the next five to eight years.
The World Golf Hall of Fame is about 64,000 square feet.
According to an email sent to News4JAX, District 1 Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said there are multiple ownership interests in the property — in and around the World Golf Hall of Fame — and said the decision is not an easy one.
Click here to read the full post from SunRay Cinema.