Irondequoit’s Regal Cinema space cleared for development
The owners of Culver Ridge Plaza, 2255 East Ridge Road, Irondequoit, have gotten the go-ahead to redevelop the former Regal Culver Ridge movie theater, vacant since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday night, the Irondequoit Planning Board gave final site plan approval to a proposal to divide the 55,000-square-foot property into five retail spaces.
Three tenants already have signed leases: discount store Five Below, off-price department store Burlington and Kids Empire, an indoor activities park for children.
Construction should take 15 to 18 months, said Matt Tomlinson of Marathon Engineering, which is working on the project with Irondequoit TK Owner, the limited liability company that owns the shopping center.
The redevelopment plans were first shared at a Planning Board workshop last December.
During the workshop, John August of Irondequoit TK Owner said: “We’ve worked for over two years on this redevelopment, and it’s been challenging. The first challenge was finding large … tenants that could occupy this box the way it was configured. And secondly, finding a strong tenant, the business that we know can make it in this location.”
The second challenge: the cost, which will be “huge, due mainly to the multilevel design and the sound dampening built into these theaters,” he said. “I don’t think they could build it any stronger. Every block is filled solid with sand, every floor is on solid concrete.”
On the outside, the curved art deco-style façade will be removed, Tomlinson said.
Plans also call for installing landscaped medians in the parking lot to prevent people from cutting across it diagonally.
Regal opened its Culver Ridge theater, with 16 screens and 3,500 tiered seats, to great fanfare on June 20, 1997. Initially, it employed around 120 people, most on a part-time basis.
It closed in March 2020 because of New York stateimposed restrictions meant to stem the spread of COVID-19. However, unlike other Regals, the Irondequoit location never reopened.
In March 2022, Irondequoit TK Owner sued Regal Cinemas for $2.15 million for nonpayment of rent and taxes over the previous two years.
The lawsuit was put on hold after Regal declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company has since emerged from bankruptcy, but the status of Irondequoit TK Owner’s lawsuit isn’t clear.