To Restore Playhouse?
The owner of the historic Montauk Playhouse, a dilapidated Tudor-style building on Edgemere Road, is trying to drum up interest in his latest proposal to restore the building and convert it into 50 senior citizen apartments.
Joe Oppenheimer bought the Playhouse more than 10 years ago and since then has proposed condominium apartments, subsidized condominiums, and low-rental apartments for the site.
There were suggestions it house a community center, a neighborhood business complex, satellite classrooms for the Montauk School, and a museum of natural history. All of these have stumbled over zoning and planning hurdles or fallen through because of the huge anticipated costs of restoring the 1920s-era building.
One-Bedroom Units
To move forward with his current plan, Mr. Oppenheimer is asking the town for a zoning change that would allow him to create 50 apartment units in the Playhouse. Several years ago he got approval to create up to 32 affordable housing units in the building.
The rental price he's now considering does not meet the town's affordable housing guidelines, but Mr. Oppenheimer believes there's enough of a demand for reasonably priced rentals to make this project work for him and for local seniors.
He's proposing 700-square-foot, one bedroom apartments with a kitchen and living room for $775 per month. The price would include heat and hot water and private transportation for shopping and other errands. Tenant preference would be given to East Hampton Town residents.
Some Concerns
The town is concerned that the $775 per month he's suggesting wouldn't be affordable for local residents over 55. "What we're going to have is condominiums for seniors who live here in the summer and Florida in the winter," Councilman Peter Hammerle worried at a Town Board meeting last month.
"If we're going to increase density we want to meet the needs of the people who live here," Supervisor Cathy Lester added.
Mr. Oppenheimer maintains that there will be local interest. It might come, he guessed, from year-round residents looking to find living accommodations in the area for their parents.
"Win Win Situation"
"Everybody wants to see the building restored and everybody says it's a great idea," Mr. Oppenheimer said last week. To make it work financially, he said, he needs the town to approve the additional density.
"It's a win-win situation as far as the town is concerned," he added. The building would be restored, the tax base would be increased, and, because full-time residents under 18 won't be allowed, the growing Montauk School won't be further burdened.
Though the Town Board was leery of making the changes Mr. Oppenheimer has asked for, they instructed him to see if there was a genuine local interest and bring that information back to the town.
Interest Generated
With that in mind, Mr. Oppenheimer placed advertisements in local papers last week touting that "the long-awaited resurrection of the famous Montauk Playhouse could be on the verge of happening." The ads call the apartments a "once in a lifetime opportunity," and include a brief form for interested people to fill out.
Within a week Mr. Oppenheimer said he had gotten over a dozen responses, all but one from people currently living in East Hampton Town. In the next month or so, he hopes to go back before the Town Board with enough feedback to prove his latest proposal for the Playhouse is worthy of the zoning change he needs to make it work.