Long-closed San Jose movie house may be preserved and gain new purpose

SAN JOSE — A new proposal could preserve a historic San Jose movie house and bring a fresh set of missions to the long-shuttered site.

The Burbank Theater, a historic movie house that has become a site of blight in the years since it closed its doors six years ago, could undergo a significant revamp that would preserve the exterior of the old cinema palace, as well as much of the interior, according to plans on file at San Jose City Hall.

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Medical offices could become part of the theater site under the proposal.

The plans have emerged after a group linked to business executives in Milpitas paid $1.6 million in January 2025 for the old movie house property at 560 South Bascom Avenue in San Jose. The Milpitas-based owner of the Burbank Theater site lists Fred Meyer and Hung Tran as principal executives.

For decades, the Burbank Theater showed movies. Most recently, it was operated as a dance studio site. The property permanently closed in 2019.

Now, it’s possible new life could be breathed into an old movie palace site described by the Preservation Action Council of San Jose as an “art moderne classic” that dates back to a bygone era of cinemas.

TJR Development has proposed a redevelopment with several components. The connection between TJR Development and the group that owns the property wasn’t immediately clear.

“This project involves the renovation and restoration of the existing theater and adjoining retail spaces,” TJR Development states in the proposal the company filed with the city.

Among the project’s key components:

— Medical outpatient offices, a cafeteria and seating areas would operate inside the building. This would be accomplished by constructing a new second floor inside the structure.

— The existing ground-floor retail spaces would be remodeled on the sides of the building that face South Bascom Avenue and Basile Avenue.

— The existing theater lobby would be converted into a community activity center.

— 14 parking spaces would be created to serve future tenants and customers.

— An outdoor seating area would be created.

The medical offices might benefit from the proximity of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, about three blocks away on South Bascom Avenue.

If a redevelopment of the theater occurs, that outcome could be a welcome counterpoint to the recent travails that have beset the theater property.

The property’s saga includes a loan from one of Wall Street’s most notorious financial firms, a lawsuit and a foreclosure.

In 2005, the property received a loan from a unit of Lehman Brothers Bank, the defunct Wall Street investment firm that collapsed in 2008 at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis.

U.S. Bank took over the administration of the Lehman Brothers loan, and in 2019, it foreclosed on that loan due to its delinquency.

In January of this year, the Milpitas business group, operating as Tru Investments, bought the property from the bank.

The movie theater opened in 1949 and showed an array of movies, including porn films in the latter years of its operation as a cinema house.

“An Art Moderne classic from the golden age of cinema, the Burbank Theater stands ready and waiting for a new lease on life,” the Preservation Action group states in a post on its website.