University-owned theater to closes for 12 to 14 weeks for a renovation to cost at least $600,000.
By: Jeff Milgram
The Garden Theater closed Thursday in preparation for a $600,000-plus renovation program that will upgrade its seats, refurbish its bathrooms and install new screens, projectors and sound system.
The renovations are expected to take 12 to 16 weeks, said Louise Stephens, president of Theater Management Corp., which leases the theater from Princeton University. The university will pay for the renovations.
Ms. Stephens said she hopes the renovations will be completed in time to reopen the theater by the winter holiday season.
"However, considering the age of the building and the possibility of encountering unanticipated conditions once we begin the work, we can make no guarantees as far as the date when the theater will be back in business," she said.
The roof will be repaired and the electrical system upgraded as part of the renovation as well.
The exact cost of the project will be more clearly estimated once the work begins, but "we expect to spend in excess of $600,000," said Robert Durkee, Princeton University’s vice president for public affairs.
"The Garden is an important facility for the university and the broader Princeton community. Louise has done an excellent job in selecting movies and responding to the interests and special requests of students and student organizations, alumni and local residents. But anyone who has sat in the Garden’s seats or used its restroom facilities know that the theater is in need of significant improvement and upgrading. The Garden is not turning into a multiplex or moving to a mall. Its charm is that it will be a two-screen, downtown theater – but now it will be able to offer a degree of comfort that movie-goers have a right to expect."
The decision to renovate the theater represents a turnaround for the university. In November, Pam Hersh, director of community and state affairs at the university, said Princeton had no plans to pump more money into the theater.
"Probably not, unless there is a major outcry from the community," she was quoted as saying. "A movie theater is not part of the core educational mission of the university."
Although the university and Theater Management have spent nearly $200,000 on the building over the past seven years, "it became clear that we needed to make a significant investment to keep the movie house running, and that the extent of renovation would require temporarily closing the facility," Mr. Durkee said.
Mr. Durkee said the theater indeed does fit in with the residential college experience and exposes Princeton students to a classic movie space.
"To that degree, it is part of the educational experience of a residential campus," he said. He also said the theater brings together the university and Princeton community.
Ms. Stephens said Princeton University students account for 40 percent of the Garden’s ticket sales.
One victim of the renovation will be the theater’s balcony. Its demise will not be lamented, Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed said Thursday during a press conference at the theater.
"I know some people have romantic memories of going up the balcony at the Garden Theater," Mayor Reed said. But, he said, African-Americans were forced to sit in the balcony when Princeton was segregated.
"I’m glad that last symbol of that (segregation) is falling by the wayside," Mayor Reed said. "You can still hold hands anywhere in the theater."
The exterior will not be touched and the new interior will have a modern feel with aspects of the 1920 building, Ms. Stephens said.
The renovated theater will have a seating capacity of about 20 percent less than the theater’s present 600 seats, she said. But the theater is seldom filled to capacity and she believes the renovations will bring in more customers.
"I anticipate an increase in business," Ms. Stephens said.
"I have to tell you that many residents talk to me about going to the movies, then apologize for not going to the Garden," said Mayor Reed.
Mayor Reed said the renovated theater fits nicely with other downtown projects, including the new library and improvements to McCarter Theatre.
"The residents and the students need a facility within walking and biking distance from their homes so they are not trapped in a situation where they have to drive several miles to get to a theater," he said. "The theater at that location also makes an important contribution to the after-hours liveliness of the town."
The Garden Theater opened Sept. 20, 1920 with a showing of "Civilian Clothes" staring Thomas Meighan. The event also featured a live orchestra and palms and ferns arranged on stage.
The facility was originally built to house the Triangle Club and other live performances. When Triangle moved to the McCarter Theatre, a leasing group known as Princeton Theatre Co. took over the Garden and turned it into a movie theater.
In 1975, Sameric Corp. assumed control, turned it into a twin theater in 1981 and ran it until 1988. United Artists operated the theater until 1992, when it decided the Garden was no longer financially viable.
Theater Management Corp., which operated neighborhood theaters throughout the northeast, took over management of the Garden in 1993 after Mayor Reed got the university together with Ms. Stephens and her partners in an effort to reopen the Garden.
The renovation will be overseen by architects George Fett and Robert Strada and New York general contractor Stephen Ventor, who specializes in movie theater construction.