The "reel" truth is that in DFW "there just isn't that manyavailable," agree two Dallas-Ft. Worth real estate executives. Andwhen properties do come to market, a willing buyer is standing inthe wings.

Most have ended up as avant garde dinner-theaters, but a fewhave gone the way of civic sites. One North Dallas theater is nowFitz & Floyd's furniture store and one in Houston is now abookstore.

"They re-lease quite easily," Vaughn Miller, president ofDallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial's retail division, tellsGlobeSt.com. "In the past five years in the DFW market, maybe ahalf dozen have closed and probably 90% have been leased."

Miller says it's the DFW demographics that make stars of theproperties, from their locations to their end use. "What do peopledo in Dallas and Ft. Worth? They shop. They eat out. And, they goto movies," he says. The region's strong job growth makes theregion one of the nation's hardiest for retail venues of alltypes.

The Studio Movie Grill has opened its first 10-screendinner-theater venue in Plano in one bankrupt chain's property.More could be ticketed by the rising star in the theater industryshould properties become available, says Miller. The region's mostpopular avant garde venue is the Granada in Addison, adinner-theater act that has been so successful that owners, inrecent years, added a second location.

Greg McDonald, executive vice president of Dallas-based WeitzmanGroup, knows of just a couple properties that are presentlyavailable. "It's good real estate," says the big box dispositionspecialist. Anyone attempting a conversion could expect to pay $25per sf to fill in the floor, he says, unless it's like the one inHouston, where the bookstore still has sloping floors, with rows ofbookshelves in place of seats.

The $1 Cinema has taken two properties off the market in Dallasand Ft. Worth, says McDonald. The real question is can the discounttheater chain survive a market where megaplexes are practically thenorm and first-run showings headline all across the metroplex.