Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Pavillion Multi in Brooklyn Sold

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-24-2006, 09:47 AM:

The once grand old lady, for decades a single screen at the corner of Prospect Park West called The Sanders, was gutted and opened as an abortion of an eight screen multi ten years ago (I think they turned a bathroom into a theatre). It has been sold.

Unfortunately the new owner promises to keep running it as a so-called movie theatre. If it isn't going to restored to the historic, majestic single screen that it once was, then it should be turned into a bowling alley or something. Who needs another ugly, ill-conceived multiplex?

Of note, however is that just recently the owners installed 2K digital on all screens. I guess digital didn't solve their problems!

Here's the poop:

By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Papers

A real-estate developer with no history as a movie theater
owner Poster's Note: this isn't very encouraging has bought Park Slope’s Pavilion multiplex — and the
sale has local movie-goers worried that he will convert the
much-loved theater into a residential building.

But new owner Abraham J. Hidary — who plunked down $16
million for the building last month — told The Brooklyn Papers
that he’s in the movie business to stay.

“The Pavilion is where I go to the movies,” said Hidary, a
Midwood resident. “If this was a broken-down building, then
we’d think about conversion, but it is a popular movie theater.”

When asked for a guarantee that the building will remain a
movie theater, Hidary hedged just a bit, saying, I highly doubt
it will be converted to residential.

Local concern over the fate of the 80-year-old moviehouse
began even before Hidary’s purchase was inked on June 12.
Word that a developer had his eye on the property — a 1920s-
era building that was a defunct shell for decades until it
reopened in the mid-1990s — sparked concerns that the buyer
would push for an immediate conversion of the property.

“It’s under contract to be turned into a condo building,” one
woman wrote in a widely distributed email blast. “It’s a shame
to lose the only movie theater in the neighborhood.”

She and others pointed out that the company that runs the
movie theater has a lease through 2022 — but the building is
zoned for high-rise residential, making a condo or co-op
conversion possible without public review.

And with movie attendance decreasing, some feel the building
will inevitably go condo.

“As you might imagine, we received some calls of concern
about that,” said Craig Hammerman, district manager of
Community Board 6.

“People were surprised to find out that it could simply be
converted to a high-density residential use without a public
review.”

The concerns were heightened by the fact that Bay Ridge lost
one of its two movie theaters last year — and nearly lost the
remaining one until a movie-loving Queens man plunked down
$5 million.

The manager of the Pavilion said she understood her
customers’ concerns, but is convinced that Hidary does want to
keep the projectors rolling in Park Slope.

(Poster's Note: There ARE no projectors rolling -- there are digital chips flipping mirrors)

“I spoke to him and he’s excited about the theater,” said Lauren
Goffio, the Pavilion’s general manager. “He knows it’s a cozy,
popular neighborhood theater.”

It wasn’t always that way, of course.

There has been a theater at the intersection of Prospect Park
West and Bartel Pritchard Circle since 1908, when Harry and
Rudolph Sanders opened a nickelodeon there, theater history
buffs say.

The current structure — named The Sanders — was built in
1928. It thrived until the late 1970s, when it closed and began a descent into ruin. For two decades, many plans were floated to
restore it or turn it into a residential building. At one point, the building was even seized by the feds for non-payment of taxes.

Finally, in 1993, movie exhibitor Norman Adie and some
partners restored the building. It reopened in 1996 with three
screens. It now has eight.

Yah, they multiplied like rabbits -- every other month you would see another number go up on the marquee. Another one of those well-thoughtout conversions.