Michael Waldman, head of North Manhattan Construction Corp., is developing a 24-hour entertainment and catering venue at 37-31 10th Street to be known as The Queensbridge Theater. The 5,000 square foot club will occupy the ground floor and mezzanine levels of a 5-story warehouse, recently purchased by Waldman.
According to club manager Robert Prichard, The Queensbridge Theater will be “a rock and roll supper club, similar to a Bowery Ballroom or a Mercury Lounge with a restaurant – a first for Long Island City, a first for Queens.” But that’s not all: The space – which will hold up to 500 people – will be used not just for concerts, but for Broadway and Off Broadway shows, performances for children, Cabaret, dinner theater, art exhibits and community outreach. “We won’t just be a night club, but a day club, too,” says Prichard, a New York night club veteran and former manager of Surf Realty, the eccentric performance art and experimental theater he founded in 1993 on the Lower East Side. “Long Island City is a light industrial neighborhood – there are about 10,000 workers within a one mile radius, all underserved for food during the day.” The venue will open at 7 am, serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, have a bakery on the premises, and, via a partnership with the local community board and public schools, develop a series of after-school programs.
“We are expecting to attract Long Island and Queens residents, the other two million New Yorkers, who have no clubs or theaters of this kind,” says Waldman. “There are countless people who are starved for name entertainment, but shudder at Manhattan prices – we will come in at under Manhattan food, drink and ticket prices.” Waldman notes that because the workers clear out at night, the neighborhood is the perfect location for cabaret – “no one is going to be bothered,” he says, and there is an abundance of parking, although he will also offer valet parking. The Queensbridge subway stop (the theater’s namesake) on the F train is a five minute walk from the venue.
The loft space above the theater will be rented out for commercial use. North Manhattan Construction is currently building out and renovating these floors, as well as adding a 6th floor to the building. Two tenants are expected to occupy each floor. A Ducati repair shop will be going into the lower basement level.
Joseph Sultana of JLS Designs is handling the interior renovation and overall design of The Queensbridge Theater. Demolition and construction begins next week; the theater is scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.
This is fantastic news, please let me know if there’s is anything I can do to help in getting this thing up and off of the ground. It is long overdue.