Kings Theatre

I’ll be there also. Re-opening night at the King’s. Sounds like a dream! Thanks all for the information everybody. The original wonder organ sits in a home in a suburb of Chicago. I have heard it played many times and is the most ornate, beautiful cream colored music machine I have ever seen. I understand it is for sale and maybe, just maybe Ace would buy it and once again it would thrill the masses once more!!

For some reason that top link I just posted might not work. Here’s the body of the info:

Update on Loew’s Kings Theatre
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

It’s been about a year since the city announced firm plans to restore the Loew’s Kings Theatre on Flatbush Avenue near Beverley Road. With three years left to make the proposed 2014 opening, let’s see how the project is progressing.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, in coordination with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) late last month. The draft EIS is an extensive survey of the project and its potential impact on the neighborhood. Major points include:

• A portion of the block of East 22nd Street between Tilden Avenue and Duryea Place would be demapped and closed to traffic permanently to accommodate an expansion of the theater’s stagehouse, back-of-house support areas, and loading areas into the street to support live theater events.

• As part of the expansion and modernization, the total square footage will increase from 66,230 square feet to approximately 101,970 square feet. The renovated theater would maintain a similar seating capacity as the existing theater by providing up to approximately 3,600 seats. It will be the largest indoor theater in Brooklyn.

• The developer and operator, ACE Theatrical Group of Houston, TX, will host up to approximately 200 performances a year, including music, dance, cabaret, and comedy performances, catering heavily to local interests.

• The building will be nominated to the State and National Registers of Historic Places and is seeking federal historic tax credits, thereby ensuring that the proposed repair and alterations are in compliance with various state and federal historic rehabilitation guidelines.

• Traffic will be impacted before and after performances, but this isn’t the Atlantic Yardsâ€"the proposed project is expected to generate approximately 922 vehicle trips in the Saturday midday and evening arrival peak hours, and 1,092 vehicle trips in the Saturday midday departure peak hour. They are not adding a parking facility, but there are two within a block of the site that would be used for event parking. One is the Sears parking lot, and the other is the rooftop lot located above the Stop & Shop/Old Navy complex.

• They anticipate as many as 292 subway passenger trips would be assigned to at least one subway line (Q/B at Beverly or Church or the 2/5 at Beverley), but they figure there is no potential for impact at this level of passengers on a Saturday, so no quantitative subway analysis was performed.

There is a public hearing tonight at 6:30pm at the Flatbush Public Library to address comments on the draft EIS. After receiving comments, they will finalize the EIS.

The NYCEDC tells us that they expect the design process to begin in February, and so far, everything is proceeding as planned for a 2014 opening.

Someone took me into the Kings in 1990. We were on the look-out for rats living there. Didn’t find any. But a few pigeon sightings were welcome. If this Ace group was responsible for the Chicago Theater, it remains alot to be said. This was not a first-class re-hab. I think the walls were only washed down. No repainting that I could see, certaintly not like the Rialto Theater in Joliet, IL. or the Oriental in Chicago both of them gleams with rich colors! 70 million
dollars sounds right if it is to be done right. But to quote a line from GWTW, “Asking ain’t Gett'in”.

Hi Scott….. Its Me!!!!! Merry Christmas to you. I visited the King’s twenty years ago and it was a very strange experience. Dark and scary, but still a wonder for me. I wonder if the restoration has began!!!!!!!

Album of photos taken at Brooklyn Tech Auditorium 2009-2010

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Just registered. Have been reading the site for quite some time and wondering why the links posted by Harris (who clearly has so much information to share) do not work, or at least they are not working for me.

Thanks.

Some articles about the upcoming restoration by ACE Theatrical Group:

http://nyrej.com/38524

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Ace Theatrical Group’s website: www.acetheatricalgroup.com (just a stub at present)

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Older article:

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Let’s keep this dialogue going!!!!!!!!!

Bruce those murals are most likely in some city employees home or sold off.Never trust those guys.

Scott,
You forget that the City of New York owned this theater since 1979 and they forgot everything including any kind of decent security. Also they weren’t very interested in adding a new roof!!

Former Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden (with a little prompting) saw the need for
that new roof. But then again, what happened to the 3 murals on either side of the auditorium?
Somehow under the City’s watchful eye they were meticulously removed!

Hi Scott!
You asked about the wires strung across the lobby. They were left over from the 1966 film ‘Sleepers’
with Rpber Di Nero, Dustin Hoffman, Vitorio Gassman, Kevin Bacon and Minni Driver.

The scene was shot up on the mezzanine with Gassman talking to a drug dealer.

As far as the blueprints, they are available at the Theater Historical Society along with detailed early
photographs. Can destruction be restored or recreated, the answer is yes. i.e. The New Amsterdam.

Bruce1

I think the New Amsterdam on 42nd St was in worse shape, and they managed to recreate what was missing.

Nice slideshow Tinseltoes.