Coram theater to become mixed-use site

Brookhaven Town officials are expected to announce Tuesday plans to demolish the old UA theater in Coram and erect a $59-million mixed-use development featuring housing and retail.

The 17.65-acre theater site, at Route 112 and Route 25 (Middle Country Road), has languished for years.

It will be replaced with a complex featuring 160 apartments and 48,800 square feet of retail space, officials said Monday.

The project, which is to be outlined Tuesday at the theater, will be helmed by the Centereach nonprofit group the Community Development Corporation of Long Island, and Conifer Realty of Rochester.

The design of the project has been driven by the Middle Country Road Land Use Plan, which calls for components including a walkable community with an internal main street, multifamily residential and retail uses, and opportunities for public gatherings.

Expected rents on the apartments will be about $1,173 for a one-bedroom unit, $1,406 for two bedrooms, and $1,620 for three bedrooms.

There will be 49 one-bedroom units, 74 two-bedroom units, and 37 three-bedroom units.

A 2-acre wooded parcel on the site will remain undeveloped, according to the CDC.

The project is expected to generate 319 construction jobs and 112 permanent jobs.

Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko, Councilwoman Connie Kepert, CDC president and chief executive Marianne Garvin, and other local civic leaders are expected to announce the project Tuesday.

Erma Gluck, president of the Coram Civic Association, said she was awaiting further details of the plan, but she expected it would be in accordance with the town's land-use plan.

"There was visioning in 2002 of the whole corridor" of Route 25, she said. "That parcel is one of the sites along Middle Country Road, and so that's why we designated that in that fashion."

"We're trying to create a downtown area," Gluck added.