The owners of the First Playhouse Theater said on Monday they are close to presenting the Village of Great Neck Estates Board of Trustees with a detailed schedule of the building’s proposed demolition.
William Bonesso, an attorney representing First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp., said the company has hired traffic engineer Sean Mulryan of Mulryan Engineering to review how the proposed demolition will affect traffic within the village.
“It’s not ready tonight but it is being reviewed,” Bonesseo said. “[Mulryan] is analyzing the road openings and closings and he will come back with recommendations on how best to proceed.”
Trustees told Ramin Shirian, a vice president of New York Lions Group, which represents First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp, that they needed the detailed schedule of the proposed demolition before they could grant a permit to tear down the building.
Maple Drive would be completely closed during the demolition of the building and would be partially closed during the construction, according to Shirian.
Bonesso said a schedule was given to the board on April 28, before the owners hired Mulryan. Mulryan’s study, he said, would be ready by the board’s June 9 meeting.
The theater, which is located at the corner of Middle Neck Road and Maple Drive, dates back to 1925 and has lain dormant since 1980.
The playhouse attracted many leading acts throughout the years, including the Marx Brothers, Irving Berlin and Oscar Hammerstein.
A plan to replace the theater was first approved in 2007. That proposal would have kept the original facade of the theater and renovated the inside. Those plans fell through when engineers said it would be much more cost-effective to completely rebuild the property.
The project has been criticized by many of the local residents, including Great Neck Estates historian Ilse Kagan.
“It is considered by outsiders and insiders as a very important building in the village, and the history of course is phenomenal,” Kagan said last April. “The playhouse recalls Great Neck’s glorious days.”
Kagan has said the theater’s history makes it worthy of landmark status and that the building should remain as is.
“Now to say that they’re going to take it down and rebuild it is absurd,” Kagan said. “I don’t think that’s a solution.
The Great Neck Historical Society, in a letter written to the village last year, said they would like to see the existing facade retained.
“It is a reminder of an exciting period in our history when we were both literally and figuratively just ‘30 minutes from Broadway,’” the letter said. “A substitute copy of the building is not the same.”
Part of the property is also within the Village of Great Neck Plaza.
The villages of Great Neck Estates and Great Neck Plaza have been holding discussions on the property’s future since 2005.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said at the meeting her comments last month about the developer’s plan to try to save sidewalks and trees during the construction period has not yet been taken into consideration.
“I haven’t seen anything reassuring that my comments have been taken into consideration,” Celender said.
Fox said Celender’s comments, and comments from members of the public, would be compiled after a complete application was submitted by the developer.
Reach reporter Anthony O’Reilly by e-mail at aoreilly@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 and on Twitter @ ORiled_Up. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
