Rendering Curbcut
Feb. 18, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
The long-awaited movie theater planned for Queens Boulevard is about to get bigger.
The developers of a 12-story mixed use building slated to go up at 38-01 Queens Blvd. said that the building will contain 10 Regal Cinema movie screens instead of earlier plans that would have contained eight.
Construction on the project, to be called The Sunnyside, was halted in August, when the Department of Buildings issued a partial stop-work order requesting updated drawings for the proposed change.
The development will contain four floors of dedicated theater space, with the upper floors for healthcare facilities and office space, according to Aaron Malinsky of Curbcut Urban Partners, who is developing the property with Platinum Realty and RW Real Estate Group.
Malinsky said they are in the process of completing fully revised plans and aim to present them to DOB in the spring. Construction is expected to take 24 months to complete once approved.
“We had to redesign the entire building to accommodate Regal’s request but we used the intervening time period to complete the environmental cleanup work and a lot of the utility work,” he said.
The original plans will largely remain the same, except some reconfiguration is needed to expand the cinema area to 35,000 feet, he added.
The theater will be upgraded with new specialized seats and sound systems and will include a Regal Premium Experience (RPX) auditorium, which presents movies in powerful, uncompressed surround sound and bright images in a custom-built premium environment, Malinsky said.
The new cinema will provide the neighborhood with its first theater since the shuttering of Sunnyside Center Cinemas in 2015, which opened in the late 1940s. Currently, the closest theater is the Regal UA Kaufman Astoria, located at 35-30 38th Street.
“Regal is creating a masterpiece of a movie theater,” Malinsky said.
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21 Comments
Is this still happening?
Is construction planning to resume on this or did Covid kill the project entirely?
I give it 2 weeks before it’s absolutely riddled with bed bugs.
Sunnyside is in need of utilizing its vacant commercial space lots- this is good news
Dazies is right there. Great night for a movie and a dinner! Love the food there and the piano music.
Wonderful. Best news I have heard in a long time.
Once approval is given, which could be this Spring, construction is expected to take two years, which takes us into 2022. I wouldn’t hold my breath!
I’m just here to see the comments from people who don’t own movie theaters telling companies how they should be run… go ooon!
Honestly? Really excited for this. The one on 42nd got closed down years ago and we didn’t have a theater in Sunnyside since then. Having an entertainment center close to home is always good. Only issue is there might be a lot of drunks at late night screenings because there’s bars all over the area.
Do people still go to the movies? Do we need 2 theaters a mile apart?
To bad it’s not an AMC theatre, much better than Regal and usually cheaper as well.
Wait- people still go to the movies?
my comment on the side didn’t seem to post I had said oh great 10 theaters instead of 8 so this the screens will be so small I should just stay home and watch it on my large-screen TV it’s kind of ridiculous it’s going to be like one of those IFC or Angelica theaters where the screens are like 12 feet wide ridiculous there’s no point in foot for theaters in there with regular sized screens or one IMAX screen and 5 regular sized screens but this 10 screens bullshit is not going to fly I’m not paying good money to go to that small tiny theater to see shit that I can just download
Bro- How about bringing something to the table for once,using at least one of your several posting alias’. People need to force the city council to pass laws saying no to turning hotels into welfare hotels.
Bro
“Finally. Now how about finishing the hotel next to the YMCA.”
It will make a great homeless shelter.
A nice boost to the neighborhood.
7 train only… because they are planning to change the bus routes and unless they have parking (and affordable…) prepare for crowded trains when is 2×1 and weekends, specially weekends because you know how is the mta
Finally. Now how about finishing the hotel next to the YMCA.
This will sure brighten up that part of Queens Blvd.
Great a theater with screens the size of my home tv . Sounds like a plan .
Okay, but get it built already.