On September 3, Sahuarita Town Manager Shane Dille and a group of town officials spent nearly an hour walking through the old Desert Sky building on Duval Mine Road. They stepped around construction crews, industrial-size kitchen hoods and stacks of speakers that hadn't been installed yet. Leading the tour was Josh Snider, a part-owner of RoadHouse Cinemas, along with Stockton Harker and Dave Collins of Barker Contracting. They pointed out where the ticket counter, the circular bar and the food prep line will go. Dille asked how you take an existing building and make it fit a specific vision. Snider's answer explains most of what's happening at 70 W. Duval Mine Road.
"In our Tucson location, the lobby was like massive, so we had room to put a kitchen in there and a lobby," Snider said. "This one? Not so big, so it left us with a really efficient design."
The theater coming back to Sahuarita is built to be smaller than the one that closed. It keeps the same six auditoriums with fewer seats in each, and it has a kitchen where there used to be lobby space. Both the operator and the town have arranged the project around that smaller footprint.
Same six rooms, every other row gone
Barker Contracting started gutting the old theater in May. The crew kept the original footprint of all six auditoriums. Collins told the tour group they had removed every other row of seats to make room for recliners and side tables. Each auditorium will now seat 44 to 78 people.
Removing half the rows changes what a sold-out night means. A full house now means fewer tickets sold, but every one of those guests can order food and drinks from their seat. The plan includes push-button seat-side service, chef-driven food, a full bar with local craft beers, RoadHouse's gourmet white popcorn, keg root beer and gelato. Collins said most of the construction work so far has gone into the new kitchen, including space for an industrial popcorn machine, soft-serve machines and a beverage station.
The rooms are getting new equipment too. "We'll do wall-to-wall screens almost all the way up to the ceiling so it'll be a lot better experience than it was before in here and with a new sound system," Snider said. On the day of the tour, crews were getting ready to hang drapes, screens and speakers, and the new laser projectors were due to arrive later.
The lobby is the trade-off. Snider said it will hold three or four tables, "but that's about all we have room for." He described the whole building as about half the size of the RoadHouse cinema at Grant and Swan in Tucson. A small outdoor patio will sit just outside the new entrance, near a steel frame anchored in an 8-by-8-by-2-foot concrete foundation that will hold the RoadHouse Cinemas sign. On the outside walls, KGUN reported in May 2026 that public artist Joe Pagac was chosen to paint a mural with cowboys and Western imagery that wraps the building and can be seen from I-19.
Why the smaller version makes sense here
The building has had a long, uneven history, and the new design reflects it. Trans-Lux opened Desert Sky Cinema in 2000 with six screens. Tom Becker and his partner Nick Sanchez bought it in 2013 under the name High Sierra Theatres. High Sierra filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in November 2019, just before the pandemic. It listed $1,312,000 in assets and $1,766,017 in liabilities. The theater later went into receivership and was listed for sale at $1.8 million, and the asking price dropped to $1.35 million. Green Valley News cited Cinema Foundation figures showing nearly 3,000 movie screens have closed nationwide since 2020, closures that industry experts blame on the pandemic, streaming services, the 2023 Hollywood strikes and inflation. Desert Sky closed for good in 2025 after about 25 years in business.
The new owners are adding things carefully. Snider mentioned possible later additions, such as private screening rooms of 200 to 300 square feet or something like the Roadies arcade, bowling and sports bar at the Tucson location. "We'll have to see how this one goes," he said. When the deal was first announced, partner Cassell also said there were no immediate plans for a Roadies in Sahuarita: "We'll see how the theater does, and if it does well enough, we can actually look at that." The plan is to open small, see how it does, and grow later.
The town pays once the work is done
Sahuarita went looking for this theater, and it used numbers to make the case. In May 2025, Mayor Tom Murphy told KGUN that data from an app built by the town's Economic Development department showed something specific. "We found out that over 10,000 people from our area are driving to Tucson each month to visit theaters like Harkins and Roadhouse," he said. For people in Sahuarita and Green Valley, that means a drive of nearly 30 miles north to Tucson.
On June 22, the Sahuarita Town Council approved an economic incentive agreement with RoadHouse for up to $142,138. The money is paid only after the project is finished and its requirements are met. The town's consultant, Applied Economics, estimated the theater could bring in $1.1 million in gross sales tax revenue over its first 10 years. Green Valley News reported that the theater was the first project to use the town's business incentive program. Because the money comes after completion, the town's risk is limited in the same way the smaller building limits the operator's.
When it might open
The opening date has moved several times, so here is the sequence of estimates.
| When it was said | Who said it | Opening estimate |
|---|---|---|
| When the deal was announced | Cassell, RoadHouse | "Shooting for the summer," called optimistic |
| Green Valley News business roundup | Victor Gonzalez, Sahuarita Economic Development Director | October or November |
| September 3 construction tour | Josh Snider, RoadHouse part-owner | Maybe before Thanksgiving, "before the end of the year" |
| Current hiring page | RoadHouse Cinemas | Anticipated mid-November 2026 |
Snider was frank about how much depends on construction. "It's all on Barker, but you know, I think in November we're probably going to be looking to hire hire staff, and whether we make it before Thanksgiving, I don't really know. But it'll be before the end of the year." RoadHouse's hiring page says the mid-November date is an estimate that "may change based on construction progress and other opening requirements."
The clearest sign of progress you'll see first is a hiring fair at the theater, 70 W. Duval Mine Road, on October 23 and 24. RoadHouse is asking applicants to apply ahead of time. As of this writing, the theater's page at roadhousecinemas.com still shows "Coming Soon" artwork and no showtimes. No grand-opening event has been announced.
The rest of the block is being refilled too
The theater isn't the only empty building in this corner of town getting a new tenant. Along Duval Mine Road and I-19, several vacant spaces are being reused:
- Five Below is renovating the 12,873-square-foot former Joann store at 18785 S. I-19 Road, in the same plaza as Ross and Burlington. Gonzalez didn't have an opening date. He expected it within a few months, since a tenant improvement involves less work than new construction.
- Sherwin-Williams is under construction at 18737 S. Nogales Highway in The Crossing at Sahuarita, on a pad between Eegee's and Bealls Outlet. It fills the last open space in that shopping center.
- Pima Federal Credit Union is building a 2,917-square-foot branch near the southwest corner of Abrego Drive and Duval Mine Road.
The town's Economic Development staff is also talking about a possible Chick-fil-A. Local franchise owners Andres and Lupita Romo, who live in Sahuarita and already operate the Chick-fil-A at Irvington Road and I-19, held two pop-up events to test interest. Gonzalez said a Sahuarita location will probably take time, because the Romos recently opened a second restaurant at the Tucson Marketplace.
Until the lights go down
Between now and mid-November, the town's evening events are the main nights out close to home. The Sahuarita Sunset Market has two dates left this year, October 9 and November 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Sahuarita Lake Park, 15466 S. Rancho Sahuarita Boulevard. It's free, open to all ages, and has local music, food vendors and homegrown sellers. The November market falls close to RoadHouse's anticipated opening. Winterfest takes over Sahuarita Town Hall, 375 W. Sahuarita Center Way, on December 12 from 5 to 9 p.m., with a holiday parade, tree lighting and vendors. Snider's "before the end of the year" deadline lands about two weeks after that.
If the new theater on Duval Mine Road has you thinking about how close you want to live to everyday conveniences in Sahuarita, Michelle Bakarich and The Bakarich Team are glad to talk through how this part of town is changing and what that could mean for your plans. Let's Connect.
