City Launches Renovation Fit for A Kings

NEW YORK CITY-Closed for business since August 1977 and a deteriorating relic since then, the historic Loew's Kings Theatre in Brooklyn's Flatbush section is about to get a new lease on life. The Bloomberg administration on Wednesday announced a 55-year lease with the Kings Theatre Redevelopment Corp.—a consortium of ACE Theatrical Group, Goldman Sachs and the National Development Council—and the launch of rehabilitation and redevelopment for the 84-year-old movie palace, now owned by the New York City Economic Development Corp.

Financing on the $93.9-million restoration of the Kings, Brooklyn's largest indoor theatre at 3,200 seats, is coming from the city, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and United Fund Advisors. Markowitz and Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke ground on the project Wednesday.

The rehabilitation project will enlarge the theatre from its original 68,000 square feet to about 93,000, bolstering its suitability as a live venue.  In a statement, Bloomberg says the restoration will be “great for the Flatbush community, for Brooklyn's booming cultural scene, for local artists and cultural groups and for New York City.”

Originally constructed in 1929, the Kings was one of five “wonder theaters” that were built as flagships for the Loew's theater chain. All five—the Kings, Loew's 175th Street in Manhattan, Loew's Paradise in the Bronx, Loew's Valencia in Queens and Loew's Jersey City—are still standing, although at present only the Paradise and Jersey City are used full-time as performing arts venues. The Valencia and 175th Street today function mainly as churches, although the latter also hosts live entertainment.

There have been several attempts over the years to restore and reopen the Kings, which the city seized in 1983 in lieu of back taxes. In the 1990s, Loews Theatres—the apostrophe was dropped from the Loew's name when the Tisch brothers acquired the company in 1969—made plans to subdivide the Kings as a multiplex movie theater, but the project never materialized.

In 2006, the Brooklyn Paper reported that Markowitz and the EDC were touting the redevelopment of the theater where a young Barbra Streisand worked as an usher. The EDC issued a Request for Proposals in 2008 for a developer to take the lead on rehabilitating the Kings and operate the venue going forward.

Houston-based ACE Theatrical was selected in 2009, due to its specialization in historic restoration and theater operation on venues such as the Boston Opera House and the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. When renovations are completed, the Kings is expected to host between 200 and 250 performances a year. A late-2014 completion date is projected.