On Monday, November 16, the building at 245 W Birch St reopens as Main Event. The Regal Edwards West theater there closed in 2019, and the building has housed a church since then, but not entertainment. The opening is 37 days away. It's the biggest piece of a pattern that's been building in Downtown Brea for almost two years. Nearly every new name around Birch Street and Brea Boulevard has moved into a space a different business used to fill. Downtown Brea is being rebuilt from inside the buildings it already has.
Seven Years, Two Tenants, One Building
The theater's story since 2019 is longer than most people remember. After the screens went dark, The Father's House OC church used the space for several years. In a June 2025 column, the Orange County Register quoted Mayor Blair Stewart saying the church's lease would end that August and that the congregation was looking for a new home.
The city had already acted on the next tenant by then. On May 13, 2025, the Brea Planning Commission considered conditional use permits that would let Main Event serve beer, wine and distilled spirits in its restaurant. The same agenda included a comprehensive sign program and a review of façade improvements. The Register reported that the permits were granted. WhatNow Orange County reported the city approval in May 2025.
At that point the Register said Main Event expected to open "sometime next year." That forecast held.
What Goes Inside the Old Auditoriums
Main Event is owned by Dave & Buster's. When the Register wrote about the Brea project in June 2025, the chain had 58 locations in 20 states, and Brea was set to be its fifth in California.
Main Event's October 6, 2026 announcement confirms these core features for opening:
- Bowling
- Laser tag
- Arcade games
- A full-service restaurant and bar, with menu items like the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwich, Overloaded Cheese Pizza and Funnel Cake Fries, and drinks like a Cotton Candy Shirley Temple and a Margarita Flight
Earlier coverage described an even bigger lineup. The 2025 Register column listed billiards, virtual reality, escape rooms and gravity ropes along with the core attractions. WhatNow reported more than 120 arcade games. The 2026 announcement doesn't repeat those extras, so it's fair to call them planned until the doors open.
Mark Medina, the Brea location's general manager, said in the announcement: "We are building a dynamic, high-energy team dedicated to delivering top-tier guest service and creating unforgettable moments for families across the region." The center is hiring servers, bartenders, hosts, line cooks, and games and bowling attendants. Applications go through the Main Event careers page.
Main Event's Brea location page already shows hours. It lists closing time as midnight most nights, 1 a.m. on Mondays, and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with 9 a.m. openings on Saturdays. If those hours hold, the old theater will stay lit well past the end of most dinner service on the block.
The grand-opening event runs 9 to 11 a.m. on November 16. According to the event listing, the first 200 guests get free laser tag.
The Same Move, Repeated Down Brea Boulevard
The theater is the biggest example, but other spaces downtown have followed the same pattern. Here's how the main addresses have changed, based on local reporting since January 2025 and each operator's current information:
| Address | Earlier tenant | New tenant | Status as of Oct. 10, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 245 W Birch St | Regal Edwards West theater, then The Father's House OC | Main Event | Opens Monday, Nov. 16 |
| 120 S Brea Blvd | The Improv | The Boiling Crab | "Now Open" on its location page |
| 120 S Brea Blvd #1 | Gyu-Kaku | Wagyu Factory | Listed as an open business in the downtown directory |
| 215 S Brea Blvd | Ruby's | Finney's Crafthouse | Listed as an open business in the downtown directory |
| 260 S Brea Blvd | Buffalo Wild Wings | Benihana | Listed as "Coming Soon" |
| 110 W Birch St | Not reported | Somisomi | "Now Open" on the company's locations page |
The Register's Brea column first described several of these moves in January 2025. Shake Shack was already open on Brea Boulevard. Finney's Crafthouse was expected soon at the former Ruby's. The old Improv was being converted into The Boiling Crab, and Benihana was slated for the former Buffalo Wild Wings. In August 2025, WhatNow reported that Wagyu Factory would take the space Gyu-Kaku left in early 2025 and was aiming for a December opening.
Check status with the operators themselves. The Brea Downtown directory still lists The Boiling Crab and Somisomi as "Coming Soon," but The Boiling Crab's own Brea page and Somisomi's locations page both say "Now Open." Benihana and Karma Lounge haven't confirmed opening dates. The directory lists Karma Lounge as "Coming Soon" at 215 S Brea Blvd, the same address as Finney's Crafthouse.
Why Reuse Shapes What Opens
Reusing buildings explains a lot about the mix downtown is getting. A restaurant can take over a former restaurant and keep much of the existing layout. A Japanese steakhouse moves into an old sports-bar space. A seafood restaurant takes over a comedy club. The theater is the hardest space to fill because big, deep rooms suit only a few kinds of businesses: a congregation, a cinema, or an entertainment center with bowling lanes and a laser tag arena. Since 2019 the building has been all three.
The same pattern shows up at the edges of town. The Register reported in June 2025 that Sky Zone Trampoline Park planned a 23,000-square-foot location in the former Vons at Brea Boulevard and Central Avenue. The company's chief operating officer, Mike Revak, said it was in the design phase. The column said the property owners chose an entertainment use over another market and that the center's zoning allows a venue like Sky Zone. No public update on permits or an opening date has turned up since then, so Sky Zone is still a proposal.
Brea Mall shows a similar trend toward experience-driven tenants. Din Tai Fung opened at 1401 Brea Mall Lane after a reservation-only soft opening that started August 7. WhatNow reported the grand opening was planned for August 31, with takeout, walk-in dining and delivery rolling out in phases. The Brea Mall directory now lists Din Tai Fung as "Officially Open." It lists Kalbi Social Club, a Korean barbecue concept, as "Opening Soon" with no date posted.
Before November 16, Birch Street Has One More Night Planned
The intersection outside the old theater has a date of its own before Main Event opens. Brea Downtown's Treats on the Street runs Saturday, October 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Birch Street and Brea Boulevard. Sixteen days after that, the doors at 245 W Birch St open again, the first time since 2019 that the building's main use has been entertainment.
A block that fills up again, building by building, can matter if you own a home nearby or are thinking about a move within Brea. If you'd like to talk through how changes like the Main Event opening fit into your plans, Power Close Realty is happy to walk through it with you, with no pressure, in English or Tagalog. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready.
