A new movie theater featuring reclining leather seats, a full-service bar and an attached bowling alley will open next month at Ankeny's Prairie Trail development.

Paul Farnsworth, a spokesman for Missouri-based B&B Theatres, said in an email the company is now "comfortable announcing a mid-December opening" for the new complex, which will be called Ankeny 12 & B-Roll Bowling.

B&B Theatres, the nation's seventh-largest movie theater company, revealed last summer that it was building the 12-screen theater and 12-lane bowling alley at 1580 SW Market St., in The District area of Prairie Trail. The theater will feature state-of-the-art projection and sound equipment.

Ankeny is B&B Theatres' first Iowa location, and the new theater will be its first with an attached bowling alley, which the company will also own and operate. Ankeny does not currently have a bowling center.

Photos of construction shared on the theater's Facebook page last week showed progress on the building's interior, including rows of wrapped seats in one of the theater rooms. Farnsworth said more announcements on the theater's amenities are forthcoming.

The opening of Ankeny 12 will result in the closure of Ankeny's only other existing theater, Springwood 9, which B&B Theatres purchased from Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres last fall.

"The facilities will be night-and-day different," Farnsworth said. "The reclining leather seats, food and beverage options, quality of presentation, atmosphere, ambiance and overall experience will be drastically enhanced."

The nearly 20-year-old Springwood 9 building, which sits on an 8.4-acre property at the intersection of South Ankeny Boulevard and Southeast Oralabor Road, is set to be redeveloped after its closure. DRA Properties, which owns Prairie Trail, plans to renovate the existing 27,000-square-foot theater building into an indoor playground, according to documents filed with the Ankeny Planning and Zoning Department.

The company also plans to construct a 14,000-square-foot office building and 17,000-square-foot RV storage facility on the property, documents said.