The Pruneyard Is Filling Its Evenings Before Its Office Tower

"Your enthusiasm and encouragement were instrumental in helping us reach an agreement with Regency Centers, allowing us to continue serving our beloved community of Campbell and the South Bay." Pruneyard Cinemas sent that email to its patrons on January 16, 2026. It came nine days after the dine-in theater announced that it and its Cedar Room lounge would close on January 25. The month before, the theater had sued Regency Centers, the Florida-based company that owns the center, claiming that its refusal to adjust the rent violated their contract. As of the Mercury News report, the status of that lawsuit was unclear.

Nine months later, that reversal looks like the first of several changes at The Pruneyard that point the same way. The theater is booking comedy and magic along with films. A local brewer has leased the largest restaurant room on the property. A dumpling house with patio seating opened next to Trader Joe's. Meanwhile, the five-story office building the center has been approved for since the 2016 planning cycle may have its phasing deadline moved to the end of 2031. What has changed at The Pruneyard this year is the part you use after work and on weekends.

The theater stayed, and it books more than movies now

The Mercury News reported that the theater planned to bring in more revenue by adding more live music, magic and comedy, plus private theater rentals, on top of programs like its Culinary Cinema series. The fall listings show that plan being carried out. Culinary Cinema pairs a film with a three-course meal served at your seat. The theater also lists a stand-up night, a ski film, and two magic shows in December. Next door, the Cedar Room has local bands on Saturday nights in October and a comedy night in November.

The theater also rents out its auditoriums and the Cedar Room for private events. The Cedar Room holds up to 70 people indoors and 80 on its patio. If you're planning a holiday party or a milestone birthday for this winter, that's a mid-size room within walking distance of the rest of the center.

The theater opened in 2018. The way it stayed open in 2026 matters for the rest of this story. It kept its lease by doing more than show films, and the businesses that followed it into the center this year fit the same pattern.

A local brewer takes over the Rock Bottom room

Rock Bottom Brewery occupied its Pruneyard space for 30 years before closing in mid-2025. In January, San José Spotlight reported that Laughing Monk Brewing had signed a lease for the same space. A Regency spokesperson confirmed the deal but could not say when the brewery would open.

Laughing Monk is a San Francisco-based brewery. Sam Ghadiri, a lawyer by trade who started Sammy G's Pizzeria in San Jose and bought Faultline Brewing Company in 2019, has run it since 2023. In March it took over the Murdoch's Bar space at State Street Market in Los Altos. For Campbell, Palo Alto Online reported in May that the brewery planned to open in the 10,000-square-foot former Rock Bottom space in late summer, serving its gastropub menu, beer and other drinks. Late summer has now passed. As of early October, we couldn't find an opening announcement or a revised timeline for the Campbell location.

The city's view of the deal fits the theater's new approach. Nathan Donato-Weinstein, Campbell's economic development manager, told San José Spotlight that Laughing Monk has "created these social spaces that draw a wide variety of people and families," and that "that kind of offering fits really well at Pruneyard." Ken Johnson, executive director of the Campbell Chamber of Commerce, said spaces in Campbell aren't left vacant for long.

Dumplings and a toy store fill in the afternoons

Most of the new arrivals are places where you sit down and stay a while. Donato-Weinstein said several businesses had opened or announced openings in the months before January, and he named Dough Zone and Pennyland Toys.

Dough Zone Dumpling House held its grand opening on June 5, 2026, at 1875 S. Bascom Ave. The restaurant has patio seating and sits between Trader Joe's and Humphry Slocombe. It's open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The menu is known for xiao long bao, dan dan noodles, and the pan-fried Q-Bao. The chain started in Bellevue, Washington, in 2014. Before Campbell, its other Bay Area locations were in Cupertino, Walnut Creek, Berkeley, and two in San Jose, on Lundy Avenue and Cherry Avenue. If you used to drive to Cherry Avenue for soup dumplings, you can now pair them with a grocery run or an ice cream stop next door.

Pennyland Toys sells children's books, toys and games and is located next to Out of the Barrel. The City of Campbell's October 2025 economic development newsletter listed it as open.

Put together, the center this fall has a dine-in theater with a lounge, a dumpling house with a patio, a children's bookstore and toy shop, and a large gastropub on the way. Every one of them is open on weekends and into the evening.

The office building gets a later deadline

The Pruneyard's long-term plan is still on file. On August 25, 2026, the Campbell Planning Commission heard an application from the Pruneyard Center Association about Phases 3 and 4 of the center's Master Use Permit. Those phases cover a five-story office building, expansions of the existing parking structure, additional commercial buildings, and a new fourth parcel for the office building. Staff recommended moving the phasing deadlines and the related parcel map expiration from December 31, 2026, to December 31, 2031. They also recommended finding the request within the scope of the environmental review adopted in October 2016 and supplemented in April 2021.

The agenda listed City Council's tentative hearing date as October 6, 2026, two days from now. Until the Council acts, the extension is only a recommendation. The agenda doesn't give a reason for the request, and we won't guess at one.

If you go to The Pruneyard for dinner or a movie, here's what the change means in practice. Under the extended permit, the garage expansion and the office building fall under the same later deadline. So the Pruneyard Cinemas audience, the Dough Zone patio, the Trader Joe's lot traffic, and eventually Laughing Monk will share the current parking structure, and nothing in the extension requires the garage to grow before 2031. If you have opinions about how the center should grow, the October 6 Council meeting is the next public step.

If you've watched The Pruneyard's file move through Campbell's planning process and wondered how a commercial plan like that might affect the blocks around your own home, I'm happy to go through the public record with you. I read master use permits and disclosure packages with the same care, and the questions they raise are similar. Reach out to Yuri Lavrentiev when it would help. Let's Connect.