Crews have started work to turn the former Septemvri cinema on Burgas's main pedestrian street into a new building called Cinema Residence. Workers have already cleared and stripped out most of the inside, and are now building access routes on site to haul out construction waste and bring in machinery.

The new building will have an underground car park, shops and an apartment hotel. It will be the same height as the buildings next to it.

The design mixes graphite-toned sections with warm brick tones and lighter areas on the facades, breaking up the large structure into smaller-looking parts. Plans include deep balconies and loggias, plus greenery on the terraces and roof.

The ground floor will have shop windows, cafes and restaurants, greenery and seating, with the space out front laid out as a public square. There won't be a solid wall facing the street — instead, an indoor passage for pedestrians will run through the building, lined with shops and cafes. The idea is to keep the complex busy all day, unlike its old life as just a cinema.

The process to change the building's use started back in 2011, says Radostin Dachev, the property's former owner. He says more than eight years of court cases followed, mainly over access through the passage from Aleksandrovska Street and over appeals against the building permit. Now that those cases are settled, the project can finally go ahead, Dachev says.

Plans for new construction on the site of the Septemvri cinema first came up in 2017. The property is one of the most talked-about on Burgas's main pedestrian street and was held up for years by permits, appeals and court fights.

The building hasn't worked as a cinema for about 20 years. Its former owner says it closed because the concept had run its course and the competition made it very hard to keep going in that form.