Metro

Long live ‘Kings’ of Flatbush

Plans to turn Brooklyn’s biggest movie theater — the once-majestic Loews Kings in Flatbush — into “the next Apollo” should become reality by 2014, officials say.

Borough President Marty Markowitz is expected to announce during his State of the Borough address tonight that architects and contractors have finally begun site-preparation work on the city’s $70 million plan to restore the 82-year-old historic jewel to its former glory. The theater, which seats 3,195, closed its doors in 1978.

Construction is set to begin next year.

Markowitz — who has led a community effort to restore the theater — says in prepared remarks that when complete, the site will be “a state-of-the-art, 21st century performance venue” and “the pride of Flatbush and all of Brooklyn.”

Part of the Loews Kings’ legacy is its A-list of former employees — among them Barbra Streisand and Sylvester Stallone, who worked as ushers.

It’s also where Markowitz attended high-school graduation and took his first date.

After decades of failed attempts to rejuvenate the site, the city last year tapped Houston-based ACE Theatrical Group to restore the historic theater to its original French-Renaissance-style, so that ACE could present up to 250 concerts, theatrical performances and community events annually.

Other issues that Markowitz plans to address when he speaks tonight at Sunset Park High School is the proposed replacement of the existing elevated portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway over Third Avenue in Sunset Park.

Markowitz is set to agree with those who claim it’s an eyesore that cuts the neighborhood off from the waterfront and plagues the neighborhood with its car emissions, leaving high asthma rates.

The state is currently studying various improvements to the BQE, including replacing the elevated part with a tunnel.