One of the largest theaters in town, the AMC Huebner Oaks 24, will shut down in early November, theater officials confirmed Thursday.

The 24-screen movie multiplex has been at its Northwest Side location at 11075 Interstate 10 West for 14 years, but it lost its lease, and the movie chain and property owner were unable to negotiate a lease renewal, theater public relations director Ryan Noonan said.

But an official of Entertainment Properties Trust, which was negotiating with AMC, said late Thursday that his firm was negotiating with another chain, and he expressed confidence that chain would take over the space being vacated.

Brian Moriarty, vice president of corporate communications for Entertainment Properties, declined to identify the other chain, but he noted that “we are confident that we will sign a new lease in the very near future.”

As for AMC, Noonan said it has no immediate plans to relocate its operation, which is set to close Nov. 3. Noonan declined further comment other than to say both sides were no longer negotiating.

It was not immediately clear how many AMC employees will be affected. The theater's local manager declined to comment, and Noonan said he did not know how many people were employed there.

Word of the theater's closure caught commercial real estate agents by surprise; many said they were unaware the longtime AMC theater, which has been at the same location since July 1997, was about to be shuttered.

If Entertainment Properties isn't able to close a deal on the theater, the shutdown in three weeks could cause problems for Huebner Oaks Shopping Center, where the theater is located, said a commercial real estate agent not involved in the negotiations. Officials for the shopping center did not respond to an interview request.

“What do you do with a closed theater?” asked real estate agent Tom Rohde, who specializes in mall and retail leasing. “I don't really know the answer.

Rohde — of Rohde, Ottmers and Siegel Realty, one of San Antonio's oldest commercial real estate firms — said, “It's got stadium seating, which means if another theater is not going to move in, the ground will have to be leveled.,

“That means you are going to have a really big, boxy facility. And that may cause a problem trying to attract another tenant because box-type facilities are hard to lease.”

He said restaurants and other shopping center tenants and nearby businesses also might take a hit if the theater sits empty, as they rely on the theater's extensive walk-up traffic to pull in customers.

He said nearby competing cinema houses at the Rim Shopping Center and at I-10 and De Zavala Road could have led AMC officials to throw in the towel.

Rohde said, “AMC may have been trying to look to get out of the local market, and it may have used the lease expiration as a way to get out.”

He said locally, the chain is running in third place behind the Santikos and Regal Cinema chains, and he speculated that “it may be that (AMC management) has come to the conclusion that this may not be the marketplace they want to be in, so they decided to pull out.”

The Bexar Appraisal District lists the property as being owned by the Davidge Family Life Trust of Santa Inez, Calif., and is valued at slightly more than $2 million.

Appraisal district records indicate the theater's operations are administered by Entertainment Properties Trust, which owns or operates 160 locations as part of its $3 billion portfolio, including 110 cinema megaplexes, as well as retail business malls, and other specialty investments in 33 states.

But Moriarty said his firm owns the building. He added that a lease was not renewed “because (AMC) chose not to sign a new lease, which is certainly their choice.”

AMC spokesman Noonan said operations at its other San Antonio theater, at the downtown Rivercenter mall, would not be affected.