Palace theater building under contract to be sold

Life360 Church is under contract to buy the Palace Springfield theater building in a move affecting multiple businesses.

Leo Crosby, executive pastor for Life360, said the organization is in the due diligence phase with Chesterfield Village creator Dearborn Development Inc., which leases the 2220 W. Chesterfield Blvd. property to Wichita, Kansas-based Warren Theatres LLC. The latter operates the Palace theater, which in August began showing first-run movies instead of discounted older films and changed its name to Premiere Palace.

Warren Theatres Vice President of Operations Dan Gray said he was unaware of the sale of the building and was unsure if the company would continue to maintain a theater in Springfield. Larry Lipscomb of Dearborn Development could not be reached for comment by deadline.

Life360 plans to relocate its Park Crest campus at 3581 S. Kansas Ave. to the nearly 29,000-square-foot theater. Crosby said he expects the deal to close within 90 days for undisclosed terms. The building is listed for $2.6 million by Mike Fusek of SVN Rankin Co. LLC.

“Location was a big part of it,” Crosby said of wanting to relocate, also noting the costs to renovate the property are much less than plans at its current Park Crest campus.

Life360 has a contract to sell the 9.7-acre Park Crest campus with its 44,000-square-foot church building to nearby New Covenant Academy, which has expansion plans in mind. The private school plans to launch a new campus for fifth-eighth graders.