Boymelgreen has problems on many fronts, don’t worry they will unload this property and there will never be a 19 story condo on top of the RKO.
The achilles heel of any development here is the landmark status of even just the lobby. The NYC landmarks and preservation commission should be a sympathetic ear View link
The irony is that the main theatre is not all that complex, just an open space where there were a lot of seats. The steel truss roof and basic structure is intact. There is enough symmetry in Thomas Lamb’s design to cast and restore. This has been done before, it’s been done with volunteers and students, it’s been done non-profit and it can be done again.
If you could take a photo today it would look something like this: View link
Now the RKO and the New York State Pavilion do have something in common: their proximity to Flushing Bay (I’m working on some docu-photos on this one). It seems that the owner/developer of the RKO, challenged by that confounded landmark status got the board to limit it to the lobby only. Then he hired an “architect” to design a 19 story condo on top – and guess what? They discovered that you have to drive hundreds of 100' steel pilings to react loads below the water table (the 2 story QTIP has 405), essentially you’d have to level the block to do this, not to mention close off Northern Blvd. ; and there is almost no room for heavy construction equipment – This block is a lot denser than when the Dave Clark 5 appeared at the RKO. But then the condo market kind of fell through this summer anyhow.
It is ineresting to note that in 1975, when the pre-triplexed RKO was functioning Town Hall looked like this: View link
Now except for Town Hall Flushing landmarks are in utter disrepair, notably the New York State Pavilion, the Bowne House and the RKO. The distinction being that the RKO has a prime location and is the one enclosed structure big enough to generate revenue. Once Boymelgreen takes the tax write off and divests the RKO there are plenty of theatre restoration precedents. I recently visited Shea’s Theatre, in Buffalo, at about the same size as the RKO, is City owned and maintained by a preservation guild; see: View link
My virus scan shows no problems with this link, but suffice it to say that it does not take much research to see that Boymelgreen has a lot of problems and that the RKO with that confounded landmark status (and now a sign in front proclaming it) is just one more headache (or virus) in the imploding condo conversion scheme. Why not build condos over the Bowne house instead? They could save the front door and there is plenty of parking. Already there is what appears to be barracks/condos under construction in the courtyard of the vintage apartments right next door! (you have to see this to believe it).
The sign in the foreground is 1 of 21 markers placed next to landmark sites around Flushing, by the Queens Historical Society, as part of the “Flushing Freedom Mile”. These signs were put up within the last year and serve to call attention to this buildings state of neglect. All these photos have the option to view an enlarged version and most of the text can be made out: View link
You can count on Boymelgreen unloading this property as they did with 14 Wall St. and that was before the mortgage loan bust; see: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/895594.html
I visited my old home town at the end of June and managed to get a few nice exterior shots, getting a bit closer to the faded “FINEST THEATRE ON THE NORTH SHORE” than what I have seen on line. Be aware that these are high resolution photos and you can count the bricks. View link View link View link View link
The RKO in relation to the Northern Blvd. scene from the Fall of 1973: View link View link View link
Also: This mural appeared on the South side of the LIRR Main Street overpass. Toward the top you can see the RKO Keiths depicted. Like the theatre itself this mural was in bad shape when I took this photo in July 2001. It is now completely covered with street vendor displays, who knows this might help to preserve what’s left of it: View link
Boymelgreen has problems on many fronts, don’t worry they will unload this property and there will never be a 19 story condo on top of the RKO.
The achilles heel of any development here is the landmark status of even just the lobby. The NYC landmarks and preservation commission should be a sympathetic ear View link
The irony is that the main theatre is not all that complex, just an open space where there were a lot of seats. The steel truss roof and basic structure is intact. There is enough symmetry in Thomas Lamb’s design to cast and restore. This has been done before, it’s been done with volunteers and students, it’s been done non-profit and it can be done again.
If you could take a photo today it would look something like this:
View link
Now the RKO and the New York State Pavilion do have something in common: their proximity to Flushing Bay (I’m working on some docu-photos on this one). It seems that the owner/developer of the RKO, challenged by that confounded landmark status got the board to limit it to the lobby only. Then he hired an “architect” to design a 19 story condo on top – and guess what? They discovered that you have to drive hundreds of 100' steel pilings to react loads below the water table (the 2 story QTIP has 405), essentially you’d have to level the block to do this, not to mention close off Northern Blvd. ; and there is almost no room for heavy construction equipment – This block is a lot denser than when the Dave Clark 5 appeared at the RKO. But then the condo market kind of fell through this summer anyhow.
It is ineresting to note that in 1975, when the pre-triplexed RKO was functioning Town Hall looked like this:
View link
Now except for Town Hall Flushing landmarks are in utter disrepair, notably the New York State Pavilion, the Bowne House and the RKO. The distinction being that the RKO has a prime location and is the one enclosed structure big enough to generate revenue. Once Boymelgreen takes the tax write off and divests the RKO there are plenty of theatre restoration precedents. I recently visited Shea’s Theatre, in Buffalo, at about the same size as the RKO, is City owned and maintained by a preservation guild; see:
View link
My virus scan shows no problems with this link, but suffice it to say that it does not take much research to see that Boymelgreen has a lot of problems and that the RKO with that confounded landmark status (and now a sign in front proclaming it) is just one more headache (or virus) in the imploding condo conversion scheme. Why not build condos over the Bowne house instead? They could save the front door and there is plenty of parking. Already there is what appears to be barracks/condos under construction in the courtyard of the vintage apartments right next door! (you have to see this to believe it).
The sign in the foreground is 1 of 21 markers placed next to landmark sites around Flushing, by the Queens Historical Society, as part of the “Flushing Freedom Mile”. These signs were put up within the last year and serve to call attention to this buildings state of neglect. All these photos have the option to view an enlarged version and most of the text can be made out:
View link
You can count on Boymelgreen unloading this property as they did with 14 Wall St. and that was before the mortgage loan bust; see: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/895594.html
I visited my old home town at the end of June and managed to get a few nice exterior shots, getting a bit closer to the faded “FINEST THEATRE ON THE NORTH SHORE” than what I have seen on line. Be aware that these are high resolution photos and you can count the bricks.
View link
View link
View link
View link
The RKO in relation to the Northern Blvd. scene from the Fall of 1973:
View link
View link
View link
Also: This mural appeared on the South side of the LIRR Main Street overpass. Toward the top you can see the RKO Keiths depicted. Like the theatre itself this mural was in bad shape when I took this photo in July 2001. It is now completely covered with street vendor displays, who knows this might help to preserve what’s left of it:
View link