At one time, New Orleans had more than 50 movie theaters at once, tucked away in nearly every neighborhood in the city. The city’s rich movie theater history goes back to 1896, when the nation’s first movie house, Vitascope Hall, opened on Canal Street. By the beginning of World War II, places like the Circle Theatre and the Carver Theater had become well-known cultural hubs for communities of all races and economic statuses.

But over the years, one by one, about 200 theaters have been abandoned, torn down or repurposed. Only the Prytania Theater in Uptown was left standing as the purported last neighborhood movie theater in town. Until now.

That’s because a new four screen-movie theater is headed to a historic building on Broad Street, right at the cusp of Mid-City and Treme, according to Design Office, the Mid-City based engineering company overseeing the project. The permit has been approved, and construction “won’t be very long” from now, says one of the company’s design directors, Marc Robert.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Robert said Thursday. “I grew up on Broad and St. Bernard, and I just think it’s a great neighborhood to have something like this.”

The theater will be constructed in a historic warehouse on 636 N. Broad Street, which goes back to at least the early 1924. The Spanish colonial revival building once housed the old Charitable Bingo Hall for Developmentally Disabled Children, as well as a heating and plumbing company called Sciamera & Masino.

According to Robert, the historic perimeter of the building, including winding columns, arched windows and detailed moulding, will be preserved. Details about the interior remain a secret for now, but Robert says the “there’s some really nice design going on.”

Unlike other theaters in the city such as the Joy and Civic theaters, which have been converted into performance spaces, this one is slated to be used as a motion picture house only, according to the permit. Overseen by theater consultant Manga-Tech Electronic Co. Inc., the space will have no stages. It will, however, undergo flood proofing measures, according to permit’s project description.

Owned by a company called Get the Gorilla, LLC, the building has been plagued by blight, and has been located for years near an abandoned or run-down lot. In recent history, the building closed in 2007 and was reopened again by 2012, according to permit records held with the city. Between 2006 and 2010 alone the building was cited at least four times for public nuisance and blight.

The area, however, appears to be in the midst of resurgence and revitalization. The endeavor is one of the latest to come to Broad Street and neighboring locations, alongside the recently opened Whole Foods Market in the Broad Street ReFresh Project, the new Lafitte Greenway passing through much of the Treme and the new Tulane/VA complex sprawling through Mid-City and downtown.

Partners with the Broad Community Connections, a nonprofit designed to support “long-standing needs” of the corridor with zoning and beautification projects, have long hoped for projects that better anchor residents and give a sense of community.

“The thoroughfare has been quickly rebuilding itself since Hurricane Katrina, but given its physical nature – blighted property and wide avenues for vehicular traffic – it is difficult to build a strong sense of community along the corridor,” says Aditi Mehta, a second-year Master’s student at the MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning and author of Broad Street Story Project.