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The construction of the new ShowRoom movie theater on Cookman Avenue has made notable progress, as the building’s cement block frontage is complete. The project is “halfway there,” said co-owner Michael Sodano.

Sodano and his wife, Nancy Sabino, opened the art-house movie theater in 2009. The ShowRoom mostly screens independent films, but also presents other programming including music productions, symposiums and question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers. 

The ShowRoom is currently located at 708 Cookman Ave. in the first block east of Main Street. The new location under construction is directly across the street. Sodano and Sabino purchased the ShowRoom’s new home last year. 

The Cookman Avenue frontage is structurally complete, with the main entrance and ticket window defined, Sodano said. Space has been outlined for the three windows upstairs to provide a panoramic view of Cookman Avenue. All the interior walls on the first floor have been framed and the cement poured for the raked seating. A new rear exit was also constructed.

The project completion date is “optimistically, September,” Sodano said.

The new theater [shown at left] will have three screens. On the ground floor, Theater 1 will seat 25 and Theater 2 will seat 75. A VIP lounge on the second floor will seat 12. The current location has one screen.

The theater’s marquee is in production and exterior windows and doors are on order, Sodano said.

With the cement block of the Cookman façade complete, “side walls can be finished now that two steel beams were raised this past weekend to provide support for the roof on the second floor,” Sodano said.

The next major steps in the project are completion of the second floor; stucco application to the exterior block; installation of lighting, projection and sound; seating installation; and marquee installation, Sodano said.

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