Bill Oestmann

Moynihan: Town Likely To Announce New Movie Theater Operator Next Month

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New Canaan’s highest-elected official said Monday that the town likely will make an announcement next month regarding a new operator for the movie theater downtown. Town officials “will probably have an April announcement” on the Playhouse on Elm Street, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “We have several active discussions going for reopening the movie theater,” he said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure. “Maybe April is optimistic, but at least it’s in the works,” Moynihan said. The theater was ordered closed one year ago as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, and Bow Tie Cinemas then terminated its lease agreement.

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.

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.

0684-Radi0

0684-Radi0: The Future of The Playhouse

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In this week’s installment of our free weekly podcast, 0684-Radi0 (subscribe here in iTunes) we take a closer look at the Town Council’s decision last week to remove funding for a $225,000 roof replacement at The Playhouse. We interview Beth Jones, a fire commissioner and former selectman who sat on the town-appointed Playhouse Committee and also helped organize a League of Women Voters forum on the Elm Street building’s future four years ago, when public works officials let it be known that the structure had $2.5 million in capital needs. This week’s podcast is sponsored by STAR Inc., Lighting the Way, serving our neighbors in New Canaan and surrounding towns who have intellectual disabilities and their families since 1952. STAR invites the whole community to join them at their annual “Family Fun Day Walk and 5K Run” at Sherwood Island on Sunday, May 5. Sign up here.

Government

Town Attorney Warns of Unforeseen Restrictions Regarding Popular Pedestrian Alley

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Though some are eager to preserve forever a frequently used pedestrian alley downtown, officials say, the town attorney is warning that doing so through an easement could hamstring future municipal leaders. The alley that runs alongside the Playhouse and Le Pain Quotidien, connecting Elm Street to the parking lots behind it, is town-owned property. Though it could be transferred into a trust and then placed under an easement that would guarantee it serves as a pedestrian walkway in perpetuity, Town Attorney Ira bloom is urging town officials to consider that doing so could restrict future generations in unforeseen ways, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said. Asked by a committee of the Planning & Zoning Commission to look into the possibility of an easement, Moynihan said he called on Bloom to investigate it. 

“Some people want to protect it in perpetuity,” Moynihan said. “The counter argument is that you don’t want to restrict future generations of leaders about what to do 100 years from now.”