Owners of the First Playhouse Theater hope to appear before the Village of Great Neck Estates trustees again in March after they receive reports on traffic and environmental concerns that may be associated with the proposed demolition of the building, said William Bonesso, attorney for First Playhouse of Great Neck.
“As a result of comments and questions that we received from some of the villages, we’ve had consultants work on both environmental and traffic reports,” Bonesso said. “We have adjourned the case to provide detailed answers and reports, some of which are being reviewed by the Village [of Great Neck Estates].”
Bonesso said there are some logistics that need to be cleared up in the reports, and that he hopes they will be completed this month. He also said the developers should be responding to comments soon about the logistics of how deliveries to the site would be handled, and the impact the deliveries might have on residential neighborhoods.
Village of Great Neck Estates trustees said in September that some questions raised by the board, including how long Maple Drive would be closed during demolition, had been raised months earlier and were still left unanswered. Village trustees adjourned a public hearing in September on the demolition until the developers answered the trustees’ questions about the project, which proposes to demolish the historic theater to replace it with apartments.
Bonesso said the developers still are planning to demolish the building.
The theater straddles both the Village of Great Neck Estates and the Village of Great Neck Plaza at the corner of Middle Neck Road and Maple Drive. Bonesso also said he hopes to meet with the Village of Great Neck Plaza about the project within the month as well.
The theater dates back to 1925, and the demolition of it has been delayed multiple times. The Great Neck Plaza Preservation Committee asked Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor David Fox in September to preserve the original brick front of the building, arguing that the historic building adds character to the area.
In its heyday, the theater attracted many popular acts, such as the Marx Brothers and Irving Berlin.
Many residents have criticized the plan to demolish the building, saying the building is part of Great Neck’s history.
The original plan for the project, which was approved in 2007, was to keep the original façade of the building and renovate the inside of it. The plan for demolition came about after engineers said it would be more cost effective to do so.
