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CVS is still looking to take over the movie theater space in Hampton Bays.
If the review process favors the applicant, CVS will have a “health hub,” as they call their stores, in Hampton Bays, and the United Artists movie theater will go the way of shuttered industry counterparts in Westhampton Beach and Southampton.
The abrupt closure of Hampton Liggett Drugs on West Montauk Highway in December led to lines at other pharmacies in Hampton Bays — in the Stop & Shop grocery store and at Rite Aid. The lines will continue for a while, but according to Walter Morris, who owns the building located at 125 W. Montauk Highway, a CVS is still on its way to replace the UA Theater.
“The review is ongoing … It’s been a long process,” Morris said this week.
It will cost, according to the landlord, “many millions of dollars” to convert the movie theater to a different use. And while the retail chain was in the news last year with reports of closures across the country, it’s continuing to pursue tenancy in Hampton Bays, Morris said.
Last November, Retail Information Systems, a retail business and technology community news site, reported that CVS Health expected to close 300 stores per year for the next three years.
While many residents of the hamlet bemoaned the pending loss of the movie theater, Morris said it is “more than struggling.” He reported that several years ago — even before the COVID-19 pandemic put another nail in the industry’s coffin — he approached the theater’s corporate owners to discuss a long-term extension of the lease. They told him then that they weren’t in a position to renew and have operated on a month-to-month basis since.
Morris hopes to have a long-term lease with CVS Health. They’re tenants of his at other locations up-island, he said, and wonderful to work with. Morris had praise for those associated with the theater as well.
The property owner feels CVS is an ideal retailer for the location. “They’re going to make tremendous improvements to the building itself,” Morris said, “and really bring that building into the 21st century.”
And what happens if the CVS plan is denied? “It’s gonna be a vacant theater,” Morris said, expressing doubt that other entities could handle the overhead of the big building while raising the specter of an abandoned building as a magnet for vandalism and other criminal activity.
Back in 2019, the community first learned about the theater closure and the CVS potential when the Planning Board held a presubmission conference on an application to convert the 14,886-square-foot theater in a 27,552-square-foot building into a drugstore.
Located on 2.7 acres at 125 W. Montauk Highway, the movie theater is currently zoned village business, and operates under an allowed use. But also allowed under that zoning is retail use, which a drugstore would fall under. The project was last on the Planning Board agenda at the end of 2020.
According to Assistant Town Planning Director Clare Shea there had been a holdup related to a shared access with a neighboring property. She affirmed receiving questions from the community as to the status of the property and said she learned the holdup had been ironed out after speaking with the applicant in December. Now it’s up to the applicant to formally submit a revision showing the shared access.
As happened with the shuttered theater in Southampton, community members spoke of transforming the use into a community performing arts center.
“That’s come up,” Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said, adding that it would be nice to have a cultural venue downtown to encourage foot traffic and create an anchor destination.
The lawmaker noted cultural centers in East Hampton (Guild Hall), Southampton Village (the Southampton Arts Center and the Southampton Cultural Center), and Sag Harbor (Bay Street Theater, The Church and Sag Harbor Cinema). It would be great if Hampton Bays had one, too, he said.
For such a venue to be self-sustaining, however, he noted it would take “a big not-for-profit able to raise a lot of money.” So far, no viable entities have expressed interest, Schneiderman said.
Adopted in 2013, the Corridor Strategic Plan for the hamlet spoke of creating a “Cinema Square” and using property in front of the existing theater as a green space where theatergoers could meet. The new CVS plan includes an extensive sward of green space along Montauk Highway.
Christine Taylor, president of the Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce, offered her personal feelings about the news this week.
“As much as I would love to see the movie theater stay, I understand their reasons for leaving. It’s hard for older theater businesses to stay afloat with all the at-home streaming options and newer, state-of-the-art theaters, not to mention a global pandemic,” she said in a statement. “People must patronize businesses enough to make it worthwhile for them to stay in business.
“I would love to see a local mom-and-pop business go into the space, someplace unique to our hamlet. It would be great to have some sort of restaurant/entertainment complex there for families that could be patronized year-round.”
