WORCESTER, Mass. - The former Showcase Cinemas Worcester North building is coming down.

Crews were working Wednesday on the back end of the 95,000 square foot building on Brooks Street near Ararat Street. 

The theater closed its doors in early March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and National Amusements permanently closed the location in June 2021. 

The 18-screen movie theater opened in 1996 and its instant success ultimately led to the closing of the city's many smaller movie theaters at Webster Square and Main Street (now Hanover Theatre), as well as White City Plaza Cinemas in Shrewsbury. 

The property sold for $8.75 million to the Criterion Group LLC out of New York on July 1, according to the Worcester County Registry of Deeds.

The Worcester Business Journal reported the property will become an industrial site. 

The 016.com first reported the demolition of the building on Wednesday.