Former Roslyn Cinema being turned into retail space for lease

The curtains have closed on future movie showings at the former Roslyn Cinema.

Shut down a few years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, the four-screen movie theater was sold last summer and is being turned into a retail space for lease.

“I love the look of the movie theater. I think it’s such a cool idea to have a retail space that’s a movie theater,” said developer Kevin Dursunyan, a Roslyn resident.

In June, his company, 17-21 KD Lumber Road LLC, bought the nearly century-old Roslyn building for $1.7 million from Gilman Management Corp., a Great Neck-based real estate investment and property management company.

Dursunyan has gutted the 9,000-square-foot former theater, which is at 20 Tower Place, and is renovating it with plans to lease it to one or more retailers, but he said his preference is that one high-end store would take the entire two-story building.

He is in discussions with several retailers about renting the space, he said.

The outside of the renovated building will still have the look of a movie theater, because he wanted to maintain as much of the theater’s character as possible, he said.

“And I’ve always loved the Roslyn movie theater. It’s the first thing you see driving into Roslyn … It’s such a gorgeous building,” he said.

The movie marquee and poster boxes with the “coming attractions” signs outside have been restored.

Also, the black and white mosaic tiles on the floor inside the building, near the entrance, have been replaced with similar tiles, Dursunyan said.

Other aesthetic changes include replacement of the building’s back brick wall with a 30-foot-wide by 10-foot-high window that looks over the pond behind the property.

Also, outside balconies were added to the first and second floors, he said.

The building’s renovation, which started in July and will be done in about two months, will cost more than $1 million, Dursunyan said.

'Movie theaters are a thing of the past'

Construction  of the theater began in 1933, according to the Roslyn Landmark Society’s website.

Bow Tie Cinemas began operating the theater in 2013.

Gilman Management bought the theater, then known as Bow Tie Roslyn Cinemas, and two other Bow Tie theaters in Great Neck and Manhasset in late 2018, Newsday reported in April 2019.

Bow Tie ceased operations of the three theaters in April 2019, the same month a new operator took over.

As of May 13, 2022, the theater was closed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Roslyn Landmark Society website.

Dursunyan bought the building knowing that he would not operate it as a theater, he said Monday.

“It’s just like movie theaters are a thing of the past. We were lucky enough to live in the movie theater era when we went to the movies, but nobody goes to the movie theaters anymore,” he said.

The number of movie theaters is declining nationwide amid the rapid growth of streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, which are changing how audiences consume new releases. Many movies are available online within weeks of hitting theaters.

Business shutdowns related to the pandemic, which started in early 2020 and was declared over in May 2023, accelerated that shift, particularly for small, independent theaters.

On Long Island, the number of movie theaters, excluding drive-ins, declined by 10, or 25%, to 30 between 2019 and 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data.

Roslyn Cinema is among several movie theaters on Long Island for which new uses have been found.

Long Beach Cinemas, a four-screen venue, closed and reopened twice after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 before closing permanently in 2023. About 40% of the space has been leased to two incoming eateries, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Jersey Mike's Subs, said Doug Weinstein, an executive vice president in the Woodbury office of Ripco Real Estate, who is managing leasing for the property.

Also, Soundview Cinemas, a six-screen theater in Port Washington that closed in 2021, is set to become a fitness center, the Training Station Athletic Clubs, which is relocating from a building on Channel Drive in Port Washington. The gym will open its new location in November, said Jason Sobel, a vice president at Ripco Real Estate LLC, who manages leasing at the Soundview Marketplace shopping center. 

Dursunyan said he thought about different uses for the Roslyn Cinema, including a restaurant, but felt it would be too challenging to get village approval because the building lacks a parking lot.

The theater previously operated under a non-conforming use, meaning it was established before zoning legislation that went into effect in 1979, village attorney John P. Gibbons Jr., of Spellman Gibbons Polizzi Truncale & Trentacoste LLP, wrote in an email.

“In 1995, a land use planner was hired by the village to prepare a comprehensive plan and a new zoning law to bring the village’s code up to date. Movie theaters were not listed as a permitted or special use, but, as a legal non-conforming use, the theater legally continued to operate,” he said.

After the theater closed for more than six months, the non-conforming status of the property was lost, he said.

Subsequent use of the building for a movie theater or any other use requires village approval.