COMING ATTRACTION
Developer shares first look at proposed Monument Square cineplex
TROY, N.Y. >> Members of the City Council got their first look Wednesday night at the latest plans to develop the long-vacant, riverfront site of the former City Hall at a Wednesday night meeting of the council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, and, despite some concerns, gave the plan for anine-screen cineplex positive reviews.
Though city officials have yet to finalize details of an agreement to sell the property for $600,000, officials from Bow Tie Cinemas and Bonacio Construction, which will build the theater in Monument Square and redevelop the former American Theater that sits just north on River Street, gave the committee a look at preliminary plans for the site and details of the $18 million project. Steven Strichman, the city’s commissioner of planning and economic development, said that agreement should be finalized next week.
“It’s pretty much a completed document,” he said. “There’s just a little bit of legal back and forth that still needs to be done.”
This latest proposal will be the fourth in six years since City Hall was demolished in 2011 because of damage done to its support structure during flooding along the Hudson River in 2006. The most recent of those proposals fell through last summer, when Kirchhoff Properties, a downstate developer, pulled out of a proposed deal to buy the property from the city for $650,000 after two years of changing plans that sparked a public outcry led by a group of downtown merchants who took the moniker We Care About the Square.
The Council Chambers in City Hall was largely filled Wednesday night as Christiano Pereira of CPA Architecture shared artist’s renderings and preliminary site plans for the project. He explained that the theaters would be built at street level, with parking for 112 vehicles to be added at
river level along Front Street.
“It will enliven the street day and night,” Strichman said. “It’s going to be your theater. You’re not going to want to go to the mall.”
Monument Square would be the fourth Bow Tie theater in the Capitol Region, joining facilities in downtown Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, as well as Wilton Mall. Bonacio and Bow Tie teamed up previously to open Criterion Cinemas in a former Price Chopper supermarket just off Broadway on Railroad Place in Saratoga Springs and to renovate the theater in Wilton Mall. The Troy theater would share many of the same luxury amenities as the other area Bow Ties, including more than 1,300 reclining seats and a full restaurant and bar.
Joseph Masher, chief operating officer for Bow Tie Cinemas, who grew up in Troy, said he has been looking for an opportunity to come to the city, which currently has no movie theaters. Bow Tie operates 43 locations in six states.
“The Capital Region has been a very, very good market for us,” Masher said, “and I’ve been keeping my eye on Troy.”
Council members took a cautious tone as they asked for details about parking, riverfront access and other issues, recalling failed past proposals, but officials from both Bow Tie Cinemas and Bonacio Construction said they already had those issues in mind as they put together the plans they presented Wednesday night, with Pereira adding that “None of what’s in here is set in stone.”
“We really want that corner to be a beacon of light for the city,” he said.
Officials hope to get council approval for the land sale at its May 4 meeting and begin construction in the fall, with compeltion of the project expected within a year.
“We want to show movies for the holiday season next year,” said Sonny Bonacio, head of Bonacio Construction.
The theater is also being built in such a way, Strichman pointed out, that additional floors could be added to accommodate future development.
The Monument Square development will also be tied to a proposal by Bonacio and Bow Tie Cinema to redevelop the historic American Theater, which is next door to the Bonacio-owned Dauchy Building. The theater opened in the 1920s, but was screening adult films when it was closed in 2006 after police said patrons were engaging in sex acts in the theater. Bonacio is planning a $3million renovation of the building that was awarded more than $775,000 in state funding in January through Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Restore New York Communities Initiative.