Mountain View's Century 16 theater on North Shoreline Boulevard will officially close next Thursday, ending a four-decade run as a local multiplex. The closure clears the way for the Shoreline Gateway project, a large-scale residential redevelopment planned for the site.
The shutdown was reported by the Mercury News, according to NBC Bay Area. The planned redevelopment includes a multi-building residential complex, with the new housing built around a central park. It is not yet known whether the new development will include a replacement movie theater.
A Theater Built on a Drive-In's Former Lot
Century 16 first opened its doors on November 1, 1985, as a 10-screen multiplex constructed on the former grounds of the Moffett Drive-In, according to Cinema Treasures. It expanded to 16 screens in July 1994, growing into a larger multiplex in Silicon Valley. Cinemark gave the complex a significant upgrade in fall 2014, adding reserved seating and luxury loungers in every auditorium and bringing total capacity to 1,797 seats, per the same source.
The land beneath the theater is identified in city planning documents concerning the site's redevelopment, according to the City of Mountain View. Planning applications were formally submitted to the city in June 2023 seeking a Development Review Permit, Planned Community Permit, and Heritage Tree Removal Permit to demolish the Century 16 complex and its surface parking lot.
What's Replacing the Multiplex
The proposed Shoreline Gateway development calls for 1,914 residential units, with 13% designated as affordable housing, spread across eight buildings ranging from nine to 15 stories, city planning documents show. The project also includes a 100,000-square-foot fitness center and ground-floor retail space. NBC Bay Area's reporting notes the housing is planned around a central park, aligning with the scale of transformation already underway nearby.
The redevelopment fits within Mountain View's broader planning activity for the North Bayshore district. The city's North Bayshore Precise Plan is identified in filings with CA.gov CEQAnet. The district has also been the subject of other development planning.
Mountain View's Shrinking Theater Options
Century 16's closure isn't the city's first recent loss of a movie theater. Mountain View lost its other major multiplex in July 2024 when Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres permanently shut down its 10-screen ShowPlace ICON venue at The Village at San Antonio Center, according to The Real Deal.
The landlord wanted to maintain the former ShowPlace ICON space as a theater, according to The Real Deal.
The closure also comes amid broader pressures facing the movie theater industry nationwide, as Hoodline has reported. The Century 16 site is planned for housing redevelopment.
