SCRANTON — A disappointing message met anyone who tried to use Fandango.com to buy tickets to the Iron Horse Movie Bistro on Sunday.
“Oh dear. ... It looks like something went wrong. Please try again later,” it said.
Iron Horse Movie Bistro at 301 Lackawanna Ave. downtown closed suddenly Sunday, less than nine months after it opened.
In a prepared statement released Sunday, John Basalyga, the theater’s owner who also owns the Marketplace at Steamtown across the street, said the Marketplace ended its relationship with management company Phoenix Theatres Entertainment. The theater will remain closed while Marketplace officials secure a new management company and transfer the liquor license, the statement said.
“We believe that new management of the theater will do a better job of appealing to the Scranton market than has been the case so far,” Basalyga said.
Iron Horse announced it was closing around midnight Saturday with a post on its Facebook page. Marketplace officials said they were not surprised by the announcement.
It’s unclear whether Basalyga ended the relationship or Phoenix pulled the plug. Calls to Phoenix headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Sunday went unanswered.
Iron Horse will remain closed until a new management company can take over, but Marketplace officials are committed to keeping it in operation, they said.
The theater opened April 28 with fanfare and anticipation. The project suffered construction delays and snags, including the theft of tools from the work site, but the $4 million renovation at the former Marquee Cinemas 8 was heralded as a sign of a resurgent downtown.
The theater offered luxury recliners, booze and bistro food to the region’s moviegoers.
“I’m disappointed. It was very unique. It was a great experience, I thought,” said Michelle Reinert of Hamlin.
She was shopping downtown Sunday with her daughter, Taylor, and said their family saw movies at Iron Horse often. Tickets were more affordable than competing theaters, just $5 or $6 depending on the day, and though the food was expensive, she liked the in-theater service.
“They waited on you,” she said. “You didn’t have to get up and miss some of the movie.”
Basalyga invested $2 million in renovating the former Marquee Cinemas 8. He attracted other novel uses for the once failing mall across Lackawanna Avenue, including an aquarium and reptile house now under construction, a gym and an open market styled after Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market.
“We have a beautiful new, fully equipped theater that is the centerpiece of a section of downtown Scranton that is being transformed,” Basalyga said in the statement.
He pointed to other developments happening nearby, including the renovation of the former Samter’s building, across Penn Avenue from the theater, into apartments and commercial space, and Lackawanna County’s consolidation of its administration offices in the former Globe Store on nearby Wyoming Avenue.
“Accommodating the local market will be the key to making the Iron Horse Movie Bistro succeed,” he said.
Inside the mall, Tim Maxwell of Moosic snapped a selfie in front a large shark statue and what soon is to be the Electric City Aquarium and Reptile Den.
He hadn’t been to the Scranton theater since its days as Marquee Cinemas 8, he said. His mother, Jane Maxwell, said she, too, hadn’t seen a movie at Iron Horse, but that she felt sorry for the employees who lost their jobs.
On the other hand, she seemed optimistic about Basalyga’s ongoing mall revival.
“I haven’t seen this many people in the mall on a Sunday in a long time,” she said, and then nodded toward the future aquarium and reptile house.
“I think once this opens up, I’m sure it will bring a lot of people,” she said.
Contact the writer:
joconnell@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9131;
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Need a refund?
Iron Horse customers seeking reimbursement for gift cards or Super Saver tickets can send them to Phoenix Theatres. The address is: PBCM LLC Attn: Accounts Payable, 9111 Cross Park Dr., Suite E-275, Knoxville, TN 37923.