Long Beach movie theater to return

Owner says summer reopening is possible, but not definite

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Seventeen months after flooding from Hurricane Sandy destroyed its movie screens and theater seats, the projectors at Long Beach Cinemas are expected to roll again.

Owner Seth Pilevsky, co-president of Philips International, the company that bought the property in 2000 and built the theater that now stands, said that it was completely gutted after the storm and is undergoing renovations.

“So many people are asking us if we’re going to reopen,” Pilevsky said. “Sandy damaged us quite a bit. We lost the screens, the chairs, the sheetrock, things like that. We’re getting the electric up and running, the plumbing up and running, and we’re doing the sheetrock — and once all of that stuff is done, we have to do furniture, fixtures and equipment.”

Pilevksy said it was too early to determine a reopening date, but added that it could happen this summer. A sign on the marquee reads, “Look 4 grand re-opening.”

“We want to get it up and running as soon as we can,” he said.

The theater, at 179 E. Park Ave., occupies the former site of the Lido Theater, which was built in the early 1920s. It underwent a major renovation in 2011 that included a new 3-D screen.

Pilevsky said that he was unable to make the necessary repairs after the storm because of the slow pace of the reimbursement process from insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last summer, he told the Herald he was hopeful that the theater would reopen. Though he received some insurance money, however, he said, FEMA classified the theater as a basement and did not cover any of the damage.

“We’ don’t have any walls that are below grade — it all dips in because it’s a theater, and FEMA said that it was a basement,” Pilevsky said. “They still denied us coverage.”

As a result, Pilevsky said, there was talk of repurposing the site as retail space. “It’s a business, and as much as we love the theater, it was something we were considering after the rejections from FEMA,” he said. “But we never firmly decided on that. We approached the city about that as well, and they appealed to us to reopen.”

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