First Selectman: Playhouse on Elm Street Likely To Get New Movie Operator This Year

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The town-owned Playhouse on Elm Street likely will have a new movie theater operator installed this year, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday. 

Vacated as per the termination of an agreement by longtime tenant Bow Tie Cinemas, the iconic 1923-built movie house will undergo some sorely needed capital work and then likely will get “an independent operator right now, in the next year, as far as a movie company,” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “I think there are people that are interested operating [The Playhouse],” Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held via videoconference. “Not one of the big chains. So I think that is what we are most likely looking at. A different kind of model.”

The comments came as the selectmen reviewed a termination agreement from Bow Tie, which had been expected to rent the largest commercial space in the cupola-topped building through 2022, under the lease, with an option to renew through 2027. 

However, the theater was ordered closed in March as the COVID-19 pandemic set in and then “when they did get the order that they could open, they can’t open,” according to Bill Oestmann, building superintendent in the New Canaan Department of Public Works.

Government

Emergency Boiler Replacement at Police Station; Committee Formed To Determine Future Home of NCPD

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First Selectman Kevin Moynihan has approved an emergency order for a Danbury-based company to fix a failing boiler at New Canaan Police headquarters, officials say. The boiler was leaking and emitting carbon monoxide into the South Avenue structure, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. It’s one of two boilers at the police station, which originally was the first New Canaan High School when it opened in 1927. “The one boiler is carrying the building for the moment,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Tuesday via videoconference. “We’d like to make this repair to reseal it before it gets too cold.

Government

Town Approves $778,000 Contract To Create ADA-Compliant Entrances to Waveny House

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $750,000-plus contract with a Ridgefield-based company to create ADA-compliant entrances to Waveny House. The work is to include a new sidewalk leading to the west porch of the public building, new doorway there and raising of the “loggia” by the balcony out back, as well as upgrades to a fire escape along the side of the brick mansion, home to two municipal departments and site of special events. An existing ramp that runs up to the west porch “was not compliant,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “So the thought was to change that grade, make it more of a sidewalk, no longer a ramp, and slope it into the western porch, and then change the access through the doors there into the building,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held via videoconference. “Through our code consultant it was determined that we needed access out onto the loggia on the back porch.

Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $20,000 Contract To Design ‘Playhouse’ Roof Replacement

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Town officials last week approved an approximately $20,000 contract with a Valhalla, N.Y.-based firm to get design and engineering plans for a roof replacement at The Playhouse building on Elm Street. The roof has “a lot of problems,” according to Department of Public Works Superintendent of Buildings Bill Oestmann. “That roof has been leaking,” he told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held July 7 via videoconference. “It’s in bad shape. The cupola up there needs work, too.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of the $19,493 contract with Watsky Associates, Inc.

The actual roof replacement has been estimated to cost about $230,000, officials said.

Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $6,250 Emergency Pump Repair at Playhouse

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved $6,250 for the emergency repair of a circulator pump at The Playhouse on Elm Street. The pump, one of three in the basement of the 1923 building, circulates hot water throughout the Playhouse for its heat, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of building in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. On a Saturday just before the COVID-19 public health emergency unfolded, a crew entered the building to swap things around and get heat back into the theater, Oestmann told the selectmen during their April 7 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“In doing so, I had to take one of the pumps from an upper level offline, and use it,” Oestmann said. “These pumps are [in a] really tough environment down there. They are all leaking a little bit and they’re very, very old.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had already approved the payment to New Canaan-based Modern Plumbing & Heating for the work on an emergency basis.