Hartlepool Council are looking for a company or organisation to buy the former Odeon cinema in Raby Road.
The 1930s Grade II Listed building closed as a cinema in 1981 and subsequently had a number of uses, including as a snooker club.
During the 1990s it became a night club with two small cinema screens but the building closed its doors for the last time in 1999.
It is currently privately owned and has stood empty for the past 12 years.
Rob Smith, the council’s regeneration officer, said: “The building occupies a prominent position on a main route into the centre of Hartlepool.
“The buyer could be from the public, private, community, voluntary or charitable sectors and there is potential for a wide range of new uses for the building, provided that they do not negatively impact upon the surrounding residential neighbourhood.”
