Park Slopers liken Hidrock’s Pavilion reno design to “penitentiary”

At a Community Board 6 landmarks and land use committee meeting last night, Park Slope and Windsor Terrace residents tore apart proposed designs for a renovation of the Pavilion theater and a new residential building next door, claiming it looks like a prison.

Hidrock Realty purchased the 1928 Art Deco-style theater for $16 million in 2006, and filed plans for a residential conversion in April, as The Real Deal reported. It plans to continue operating an indie theater in the building and add 24 apartments, according to Gothamist.

“You’ve got architectural design that looks like the penitentiary that’s down in Sunset Park,” an audience member told the developer on Thursday. “This seems to be a very conformed, very futuristic look for that building.”

Rendering of Pavilion Theater and Bartel-Pritchard Square in Park Slope (credit: Morris Adjmi Architects)

While the theater itself is landmarked, the adjoining building is considered “non-contributing” to the Park Slope historic district, and would be demolished under Hidrock’s plans.

Morris Adjmi Architects is overseeing the conversion and addition.

Peter Bray, chair of the Park Slope Civic Council, called Bartel-Pritchard Square, where the movie theater sits, the “formal portal” to the neighborhood. “Fifteenth Street is the door, and the buildings that surround it on the square are the door frame,” he said. “And I think that the issue with this building is, it doesn’t uphold its side of this portal.”

Despite its concerns, the board voted to provisionally approve the plan with certain recommendations to improve the building’s integration. [Gothamist] — Tess Hofmann