Neighborhood Movie House Will Go Independent

In an era of multiplexes in shopping malls, a real estate deal announced early this week will save a neighborhood movie house in Brooklyn.While local movie theaters have been fading from the scene for a generation, Nicolas Nicolaou will buy Bay Ridge’s Alpine Cinema, a theater dating to the days of silent movies. Mr. Nicolaou, according to City Councilman Vincent Gentile, who worked to smooth the way for a transaction, will make what is now part of the AMC Loews chain an independent house. The theater dates from 1921, and has seven screens.Mr. Nicolaou, who also owns the equally historic Cinemart Cinemas in Forest Hills as well as CC Cinemas in Manhattan, pledged to the seller, Jeff Deneroff, that he will make renovations to the 85-year-old building, while preserving its use. Though independent, Mr. Nicolaou’s current theaters show mainstream movies, not arthouse fare.“The Alpine has been saved,” Mr. Gentile, a Democrat from Bay Ridge, said.“It used to be you could walk a few blocks in any direction and come to another movie theater,” the Brooklyn borough historian, Ron Schweiger, said. But now, many theaters in southern Brooklyn have moved to Kings Plaza and the Belt Parkway. Just last year, the Fortway theater in Bay Ridge closed. Borough President Marty Markowitz complains that the place that gave America Woody Allen, Barbara Streisand, and Danny Kaye has the fewest number of screens per capita of any borough in the city.In most of the country, over the last decade, the trend has been to reduce the number of theaters, but add to the number of screens. Large multiplexes have come to dot the landscape. Inner city theaters, which are harder to convert to multiplexes, and which lack parking, have been closing all over the country, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Sam Craig, said. Brooklyn, despite its relative density and population of 2.6 million, has suffered the same fate.For older theaters, “it’s hard to adapt by changing,” Mr. Craig said. Smaller theaters find it hard to compete for the most popular first-run films. In recent years, there also has been a decline in ticket sales due to pressure from DVD rentals. Around the country, theater ticket sales fell by 14% between 2002 and 2005, according to the National Association of Theater Owners.But the Alpine has bucked the trends. “His record shows that he is both a savvy businessman and that he is committed to historic preservation. We are thrilled that he bought the Alpine,” Mr. Gentile said.Mr. Nicolaou is vacationing in Cyprus and could not be reached for comment. The sale price was reportedly close to $7 million.

Neighborhood Movie House Will Go Independent

Neighborhood Movie House Will Go Independent

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