There will be a ribbon cutting next Friday for the restored Loew's Kings Theatre, and Diana Ross has been booked for the grand opening performance. NY1's Jeanine Ramirez got a sneak peek and filed the following report.

 

They are polishing the fixtures, sanding the ceilings and washing the windows as the majestic Loew's Kings Theatre is about to reopen to the public after a $93 million renovation. The landmark had been closed since 1977. 

 

"This is a theater that the people of Flatbush and of the surrounding communities have loved going to for so many decades, from the 1920s through the 1970s, and now, for them to have to chance to come back here for the first time in almost 40 years, it's something that's really exciting," said Ian Fried of the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

 

The city owns the property, taking control in 1983 when its owners failed to pay taxes.

 

With 3,600 seats, it was a legendary movie house and vaudeville stage modeled after the Paris Opera House. 

 

NY1 got a first peek inside the theater in 2010.

 

The city hired a Houston firm that renovates historic sites to bring it back to its original 1929 glory.  

 

"The plaster was on the floor. There were holes in the ceiling. There was water everywhere. There was mold," said David Anderson, president of the ACE Theatrical Group. "It was really tragic."

 

NY1 revisited the Loew's in 2013 to see the work in progress. All of the lost details of its ornate French Renaissance-style architecture were re-created. 

 

"Very little of it was actually still here, but we found pictures, we found some remnants, we actually found pieces of the wall fabric in the theater," Anderson said. "So we were able to take those historic images and the remnants and re-create the feel and the look of what it really looked like originally back in the 1920s."

 

Former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz points to the seats where he had his first date. His office, and the Bloomberg administration, put up the first $50 million for the transformation.  

 

"They don't make theaters like this anymore," Markowitz said. "This is going to be Brooklyn's Beacon and Apollo all in one, right here on Flatbush Avenue."

 

Diana Ross will headline the grand opening concert on February 3. She'll be followed by Sarah McLachlan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the Moscow Ballet. Plans are for 200 performances a year.