News & Events

FROM OUR TOWN

Pearl River Theater to be converted to senior citizen apartments and retail stores
Board hears proposal for PAC zone in the middle of the Pearl River business district

By Anne Phyllis Pinzow Staff Writer

Sitting vacant since 1999, the Pearl River Theater on the corner of William and East Central Avenue, remembered by many as at one time, the only movie house in this area (when it was called the Central Theater), has received PAC zoning approval from the Orangetown Town board. The Mews at Pearl River, being developed by the Skyview Plaza Development Corporation, (principal Edmund Lane) will gut the interior, restructure and reinforce the walls converting the building into three floors.

The first floor will be reserved for 5,000 square feet for retail use while the second and third floors will be used for six one bedroom and six two bedroom senior citizens unites to be serviced by an elevator and be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

These apartments would range in size from 780 square feet to 950 square feet.

Don Brenner presented the proposal stating that according to the PAC zone code, this is the only use allowed. He said that at present there is no other senior housing in the town center.

Brenner said that with the senior citizen use, the traffic impact to the area would actually be less than its former use as a theater. However this is based on the idea that most of the tenants would use no or only one car because of the proximity to mass transit to other areas of the county, Bergen County and New York City.

James Tanner, the architect for the project said that the building space would actually be reduced, as the rear fourth story, which used to hold backdrops when the building was a theater as opposed to a movie house, would be removed.

The front and rear entries would be retained and two smoke proof stairwells would be constructed. Brenner said that according to tax assessor calculations the town's rateables would increase from $11,382 to $129,035, which would come to about $10,000 in taxes per apartment. Brenner said that a condominium might get some sort of a discount but tenants would have to apply for it.

In a phone interview, Orangetown Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner said that for a number of years he and Brenner had tried to interest film distributors in keeping the structure as a movie house. However they could not get the distributors to have interest in it.

"When the Palisades Center open up," and simultaneously a number of local theaters closed their doors, "Unscientifically, a large number of people don't like going to the mall to see a movie," he said. He said the project will provide housing for seniors who will have easy walking to a number of stores throughout the area and convenient transportation.

Watson Morgan of Blauvelt and others at previous meetings had suggested that instead of retail on the bottom floor, that parking space be provided.

However Kleiner said that's not impossible but that he thinks only a few designated spaces would be needed to accommodate the tenants. "It would be better than having than a first floor parking garage. It would not be the most attractive use at that location."

Brenner was asked in a subsequent interview that with at least six vacant retail establishments on Central Avenue right now, not to mention second floor business space standing empty, why would the hamlet center need more retail space.

He said that a building like this would make the hamlet center more attractive. "If you don't modernize the downtown area, where do you go."

There will be a public hearing on this issue on December 12.

Learn more about how you can contribute or volunteer to save the theater. Email us at savethetheater@PRTDC.org or call us at 800-217-0091.