Saving the majestic Loews Kings theater in Brooklyn could cost a whopping $70 million.
After more than a year of planning, the city has begun soliciting bids from developers interested in restoring Flatbush’s 79-year-old jewel, which closed in 1978, its French Renaissance interior in dire need of repair.
Reviving the city-owned 63,000 square foot former picture palace and vaudeville house at 1025-35 Flatbush Ave. could be the centerpiece for a bigger project that includes using air rights and a 750-spot parking lot behind the site for residential space, a boutique hotel and retail shops.
“The historic character of the Loews Kings, coupled with its location in the middle of the thriving Flatbush Avenue retail corridor, makes this a very exciting redevelopment project,” said city Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky.
A city study identified four uses and programs for the theater: popular, headliner and cultural entertainment; youth and community enrichment programs; rehearsal and instructional space for dance, theater and music; and meeting and event space.
The city puts the cost of restoring the 3,195-seat theater at $70 million, noting it has long been damaged by leaks and pigeons.
The theater’s revival and a planned Coney Island amphitheater are two projects that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants to see completed before he leaves office at the end of 2009.
Markowitz is featured in a new two-minute promotional film on the EDC’s Web site, saying the theater’s “beauty is there but needs to be polished.”
The Post reported in Feb. 2006 that the theater was in danger of being demolished until Markowitz began leading a new community effort to restore it.
Prior to that many ideas were considered including a 1999 multiplex plan by ex-NBA star Magic Johnson that fell apart.
Bruce Friedman, whose Save the Kings grass-roots group has toiled for 20 years to bring the theater back, envisions its basement, once the site of employees’ basketball games, as someday housing a jazz or comedy club.
Part of the Loews Kings’ legacy is its A-list of former employees – among them Barbra Streisand and Sylvester Stallone.