Old Plaza Theatre finally set to come down

The Plaza Theatre, an abandoned movie house that has impeded the revitalization of East Patchogue for more than a quarter century, is scheduled to come down this summer.

A battery of politicians has described the demolition of the Plaza as a touchstone for the redevelopment of the community east of Patchogue Village.

After a long legal struggle, Brookhaven Town took title to the building through eminent domain and in about a week will request bids to demolish the structure, Supervisor Mark Lesko said.

The theater, a boxy building on East Main Street, opened in 1962 and showed its last movie around 1985, former patrons say. Over the years, the deteriorating building has attracted vagrants, vandals and untold numbers of pigeons.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy remembers seeing "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" at the Plaza in 1982, when he was in his early 20s. But he harbors no nostalgia for a building he says has held back the surrounding area's economic growth.

"Knocking the building down is so important symbolically because it's been a long fight," Levy said. "People will finally feel a sense of hope and it will breathe further investment from the private sector into that area."

Suffolk County began efforts to take over the property in 2006 and handed the process over to Brookhaven in 2009. Brookhaven officials said the town took title in January and will spend about $725,000 to demolish the building.

Its owner, a Manhattan real estate investor named Edmondo Schwartz, has refused to negotiate a settlement price with Brookhaven, town officials said. Attempts to reach Schwartz for his side of the story were not successful.

Schwartz will eventually be compensated for the loss of the building, possibly after a judge sets a fair value for the property, Lesko said. Town officials reckon the building is worth about $1.2 million.

Lesko said the town is in contact with a "very interested developer" who wants to buy the property and turn it into a commercial and office complex. He declined to name the developer.

The demolition of the Plaza -- combined with recent road and sewer improvements in the area -- will accelerate the rebirth of East Patchogue's Main Street business district, Lesko said.

The building is "a monument to suburban blight" that "had a corrosive effect on the whole community," Lesko said.

Neighbors agreed the Plaza's final act is long overdue.

"We are ecstatic," said Marita Morello, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years.

Morello added that she has been pushing for the demolition of the Plaza "for 25 of those years."