NEW BEDFORD — Flagship Cinemas will close its New Bedford theater by Aug. 31 and the company's CEO said the decision was made in part because he believes the city no longer wants to host a movie theater.

"Unbeknownst to me, the landlord, they rezoned the space to industrial about two and a half years ago and city officials wanted nothing to do with a movie theater anymore," said Flagship Cinemas CEO John Crowley by phone Wednesday. Crowley said he has had no contact with city officials.

Mayor Jon Mitchell, however, said he believes the decision to close the theater was likely business-related, highlighting what he described as the success of AMC's Dartmouth theater complex.

He said he did not know any specifics about the re-zoning Crowley alleged caused the closure. "The only re-zoning I can think of in that area would be when we made it multi-use to make it a possible train stop for the SouthCoast Rail Project and I think that would have had an effect quite to the contrary of what he's saying," Mitchell said. "I'm disappointed it's closing, I was just there within the last month."

Mitchell was referring to a change made after a September 2013 planning proposal to re-zone a group of plazas off of Kings Highway, including one which contained Flagship Cinemas, to "industrial A," which allowed the buildings to be used for transportation terminals, manufacturing or warehousing in addition to businesses.

At the time, Ward 1 City Councilor James Oliveira said the proposal would "add flexibility" but could not recall any specifics when reached by phone Wednesday. He said he did not believe city officials had any plans to get rid of the theater.

Planning officials could not be reached by The Standard-Times before deadline Wednesday.

The New Bedford cinema made headlines Tuesday when a former manager at the company was interviewed by WBSM and said that multiple hypodermic needles were found when workers cleaned the theater's plush seats. The manager, who Crowley said resigned in recent weeks for undisclosed reasons, also said one worker was stuck by a needle while cleaning.

Crowley said the worker was treated at the hospital and did not suffer a serious injury. He added that a total of three needles were discovered in a 14-month period when the theater installed and removed the leather seats.