The Osio Cinemas stood empty for nearly a year, but new owners look to reopen the theater in weeks.

Nearly a year after an abrupt closure, former employees and now business owners plan to reopen Osio Cinemas within a month. The final hurdle to opening was cleared when the Monterey City Council approved the theater’s sublease in the city-owned Osio Building May 17.

“This is going to be a huge boon for downtown,” says Shanneen Kirkpatrick of Le Prince Cinemas, the recently incorporated business that now runs Osio. “We want this to be a community space.”

The three cinephiles involved in the revamp have been cleaning, painting and planning for months. With remodeled bathrooms, a new high-definition projector and a beer-and-wine permit they share with adjacent Cafe Lumiere, they are looking to take the theater in new directions.

After raising $76,000 on a Kickstater campaign last year, Kirkpatrick says they would like to keep the community focus by partnering with local colleges, including the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, to host speakers, screenings and other events.

“We need to do more than just show films to keep the doors open,” Kirkpatrick says, noting the bankruptcy that befell the former owners. “We need to have special events to pay for our passion.”

Seating will likely be removed from one theater and replaced with couches to create a more intimate atmosphere to accommodate events, Kirkpatrick continues.

There will be a grand opening in the coming months with a dinner and movie pairing, but the cinema will likely also hold a soft opening before the official launch, she says.

Two of the critically acclaimed independent titles Osio Cinemas is considering showing at their launch are High-Rise and The Family Fang.

The Osio Building is also home to 29 affordable housing units. City Council approved the sublease in closed session, standard procedure for lease negotiations of city property.