Soundview Cinemas
7 Soundview Market Place,
Port Washington,
NY
11050
7 Soundview Market Place,
Port Washington,
NY
11050
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I can tell you that the rent at the Clearview Soundview theater was approximately $60,000 a month. Clearview was just losing money there. With the lease agreement having expired, I’m sure the landlord was trying to up the rent. The Soundview Marketplace in which it was located is becoming a ghost town with vacant storefronts. In comparison, the Clearview Port Washington theater on Main St. is only about $20,000 a month. Not that I like the Dolans but that seems like a pretty easy decision. They renovated the Clearview Port Washington theater back in the Fall of 2007 so the seats there are actually nicer then the ones at the Soundview theater. However lack of parking and the fact that not all the theaters are handicapped accessible can be troublesome. The Soundview theater had six big screens while the Port Washington theater has seven screens (two big, three medium sized and two small ones).
I’ve been there a few times and ironically the last film my wife and I saw there was Going the Distance on Labor Day. This is the film they state was also the last one to play there. It’s sad, it’s near great views of the water and beside a major supermarket. I think there used to be a Blockbuster there that went out of business too.
While I can’t defend Clearview, which is a chain that I think has done some serious damage to the movie going culture in Northern New Jersey (Kinnelon is unforgivable mess, the second worst theater in terms of projection I’ve seen), I will say after reading the articles the problem may be high taxes in town, thus rents were raised, tenants left, and so forth. Still a theater is a major draw as an anchor for any shopping center. Perhaps another operator could come in here and strike a more favorable lease, remodel the theater a bit and reopen it. This is not uncommon, but is more so in down south I feel, where you read about old AMC and General Cinema sites getting gutted and rebuilt with stadium seating. It’s less common in the North East for whatever reason.
I’d be willing to bet Bow Tie is reviewing the economies of operating Soundview right now. Otherwise I suppose if the attendance numbers are strong an indie might consider making a go of it.
They are the owners of Cablevision Systems Corporation; Clearview Cinemas is owned by Cablevision.
who are the Dolans?
I remember when I cleaned the screens here back in the early 2000’s. Was a real nice place then. I agree with the above post by Ed S. that the other theatre in town they own is kind of crappy, as far as screen size, parking etc. But as he said, thats the Dolans. I had first hand expierience with their stupidity.
As an area resident, I can say everyone is surprised and saddened by the closing of the Soundview Cinemas. While the theater needs a renovation, it is still clean and comfortable with lots of easy parking. The shopping center is losing tenants and the owner should have made a deal to keep a major anchor tenant. A Carvel and pizza shop that recently opened are probably very upset.
The only other theater in town is owned by Clearview, but is an older traditional theater converted into approximately 6 screens. Two are decent sized rooms and screens, but the rest are small. This theater does not have easy parking and is on Main Street, so drop off/pick up is always a problem.
Closing Soundview is a big mistake, but that’s the Dolans.
Was Clearview running this theater as a discount house toward the end? At least two of those films were released in July.
Last movies shown:
Despicable Me
Inception
The American
Going The Distance
Alpha and Omega
Easy A
Eat Pray Love
Port Washington is a L O N G distance from any big multiplex. Other tenants have been clearing out of this shopping center, could be the rent. Fred, above, said it was a money loser. It’s not in town but it did have the advantage of parking. Not likely to be resurrected by any other chain.
The article mentioned high rent.couldn’t something have been done with the landlord to keep this theatre open.Money loser? People in the article seem upset it is closing.Must be other reasons,Bad side of Town? Lousy service at the theatre?poor projection?I bet a big ugly 20 plex opened up down the road.The article was more of a tease,no real facts presented to the reader.
The theater was a moneyloser for the clearview , high rent to boot
There are several pictures of the theater on its page at CinemaTour: http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/7801.html Here is an article about the closing: View link