Request for Proposals seeks tenant for 80-year-old building in need of $70M in repairs. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is seeking proposals for a developer to lease, rehabilitate, and reuse the former Loew’s Kings Theatre at 1025 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

The vacant building, located between Beverly Road and Tilden Avenue, opened in 1929 as Loew’s flagship theater. The designers of the 3,195-seat, French Renaissance-style building were heavily influenced by the Palace of Versailles and Paris Opera House. Its unique design features include a 70-foot-high orchestra dome, ornate plaster walls, and crystal chandeliers. Because the building has been vacant since 1978, extensive rehabilitation work is required on the theater’s exterior and interior. Sections of the roof are missing, interior walls are water damaged, and the theater contains lead, asbestos, mold and guano. EDC estimates that it will cost 70 million dollars to rehabilitate the building. (read more…)