When it comes to development news, the openings, closings and such things, a lot of times the only news we hear is how one beloved business after another is closing. The reasons usually involve some combination of long-time owners retiring or property owners hiking rents, and it’s been a pretty consistently sad story for years. But for at least one day, that news has been turned on its head. And while I wouldn’t necessarily put Landmark Opera Plaza in the same category as a family-owned business, it’s still still a wonderful resource. And it’s great news that the movie theater won’t be closing after all.

Nonprofit swooping in to save SF neighborhood movie theaters rescues Opera Plaza

Opera Plaza Cinema, the struggling Civic Center movie house that had been scheduled to shut down, has a new nonprofit owner and a fresh long-term lease.

San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation is taking over the four-screen cinema, which has long specialized in independent movies rarely shown shown at San Francisco megaplexes. The foundation will invest $1.2 million into updating the space, according to board members Jack Bair and Alfonso Felder, San Francisco Giants executives who co-founded the foundation in 2002.

• Tag: San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation