Cars are vibrating: Pathé is turning into a parking lot.

Minas 247 - Brazil seems to have an imaginary citizen above any suspicion or interest: the automobile. If there are doubts when seeking solutions to improve the daily lives of residents in large metropolises, the car will always be the privileged one. Alternative solutions? They will almost always be a mere detail, because, it's always worth repeating, the automobile is king.

The idea of ​​rescuing the building of the traditional Cine Pathé in the Savassi region and transforming it into a cultural center or something similar, like bringing back the movie theater, didn't last long. It would also be a way to revitalize the area, now renovated and much more beautiful, which would bring benefits to the city, even economically. The Pathé building will indeed become a parking lot – BH cars, rejoice!… 

Since its closure as a film screening venue, the space on Cristóvão Colombo Avenue has been used as a church and a parking lot, but today it is abandoned. Until two weeks ago, there was a "for rent" sign on its facade. The monthly price charged was R$ 65.

Read the article from the newspaper below. State of Minas: 

For over seventy years, many scenes were etched into the darkness of the Cine Pathé in one of Belo Horizonte's most emblematic neighborhoods. Initially built in 1920 at 759 Afonso Pena Avenue, the theater, belonging to the former Cinema SA group (now Cineart), moved to a new location in 1948 at 315 Cristóvão Colombo Avenue, marking the Savassi neighborhood for over 50 years. With the decline of the area, replaced by shopping malls as the preferred shopping destination, the cinema followed the same path and, left to decay, did not survive. With a new look, Savassi's nostalgic residents dreamed of the theater's return or the establishment of some cultural space, but they will have to settle for a parking lot once again.

After the lights went out during the last screening in 1999, when the cinema was already surrendering to commercial films in search of visitors, the Cine Pathé was transformed into an evangelical church and later housed a parking lot. But, in recent months, it remained empty. However, just a few weeks after the inauguration of the requalification of Praça Diogo de Vasconcelos, the space was relocated. “We rented it to a parking lot chain,” confirms Cristina Machado, contract analyst for the Vila Rica Group. Initially, the asking price for the nearly 1 square meter space was R$ 65, and according to Cristina, the approved amount is close to that figure.

In the mid-2000s, the Belo Horizonte City Hall listed the facade and lobby of the Pathé cinema as a protected historical site, but allowed for alterations to be made to the interior. This resulted in little remaining of the old cinema, and significant interventions were not necessary for the installation of the parking lot. 

Less than a month after the inauguration of the square's renovation, two of the main properties that were vacant in the region are being occupied again. In addition to the Cine Pathé, the former Livraria da Travessa bookstore also has a new tenant. The president of the Belo Horizonte City Council, councilman Léo Burguês (PSDB), and two other partners signed a contract last week to lease the space located between Avenida Getúlio Vargas and Rua Pernambuco. The establishment is expected to be divided into two, housed as a restaurant and a clothing store.