ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — It was supposed to become a basketball prep school, but now the plans to bring new life to the old downtown theater have fallen through. KRQE spoke with the city about what they hope will happen to the space at the gateway to downtown Albuquerque. New Mexico Ope n to be held at Turtleback Mountain Golf & Resort "Losing the theater was a pretty big loss for downtown at the time," said Albuquerque City Council District 2 Councilor Joaquin Baca. Now, there's been another loss after plans fell through with ABC Prep, a local basketball program. The organization announced last year it was planning to build a basketball prep school at the old theater. Yet the theater is for sale again for $14 million dollars. "Well, I think it might have been hard financially to pencil everybody, and that's typically why a lot of these ideas fall through, is looking for the financing and the way to make it work," said Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency Director Terry Brunner. The building has been empty for four years. When it closed, it was a big hit to the area. "That was a successful anchor to the neighborhood. I mean, there was so much foot traffic," said Baca. Once you have people there all the negatives tend to go away. When we lost the theater, that's when we started having a lot of the reports coming in of everything that you don't want. The city says they were excited to see the building turned into something, especially with its goal to revitalize the area along 1st and Central, as it adds the Rail Trail - a seven-mile multi-use trail designed to connect Old Town, downtown Albuquerque, and the Bosque. "It's really in the center of Downtown at First and Central," said Brunner. "We have a lot going on there with the train station, the upcoming rail trail project. So it's very centrally located facility, and it's a big facility, so it offers a lot of opportunities for usage." The city says it hopes whatever is brought to the spot will bring more people to the area, especially with the Route 66 centennial celebration around the corner in 2026. "We've heard about a charter school that's interested in using it, and that would be a nice usage," Brunner said. "We're in favor of anything that brings more people downtown. If its for offices or recreation or whatnot, really getting that site under use is really important to us." In a statement, the sellers told KRQE News 13, in part, that they believe in ABC Prep, but there remained too many uncertainties about how much support they would get from the city, thereby leaving the parties unable to move forward. ...read more read less