PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Paradise Will Reopen Oct. 29

By JORDAN MOSS

Mark your calendars.

The memory-drenched Loew’s Paradise Theatre on the Grand Concourse will reopen in style on Oct. 29 with a gala concert featuring Puerto Rican music star Gilberto Santo Rosa.

Following years of uncertainty over its future, the theater’s ornate interior, which includes marble columns, Greek statues and gilded fixtures, has been painstakingly restored by developer Gerald Lieblich, the owner of the building. It was given its first showing to an eager public on Sept. 26 when the Bronx Museum of Arts culminated a day celebrating the Concourse’s centennial in the lobby of the Beaux-Arts theatre.

As people wandered the lobby with plates of fruit and cheese, some who had been there before remembered the last movies they had seen there before the theater closed in 1994.

Now that same lobby, and the mezzanine above, will feature a high-end restaurant run by celebrity chef Eric Basulto, who caters for Jennifer Lopez.

Boter said the 3,800-seat venue’s 30 events a year will not be limited to Latin attractions. He envisions classical music concerts, opera and even daytime children’s shows. On the other days, the Paradise will operate only as a restaurant and lounge.

Last Friday, Boter said tickets would go on sale for the Oct. 29 concert on Monday, Oct. 3 at the Paradise box office and can also be purchased through Ticketmaster. Tickets for opening night will run from $40 to $75. Mily, the Dominican singer, is another upcoming attraction.

Valet parking is available for $10. The Paradise is using a garage for this purpose on the Concourse near 177th Street.

The theater’s rebirth (it opened in 1929) was a struggle. A Westchester developer, who signed a 10-year lease in the mid-1990s, sunk millions of dollars in restorations into the theater to create a sports and entertainment complex, eventually ran out of funds. A lengthy legal battle ensued over who controlled the facility. The owner, ABI Property Partners, won the suit in 2003 and then sold the theater to Lieblich.

Boter, who emigrated from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in the early 1970s, predicted the Paradise would quickly become a popular Bronx destination.

“I think this is the most beautiful theater I’ve ever seen in the world,” he said, adding that the ticket prices will be much more reasonable than those for similar events in Manhattan.

“Like they come [to the Bronx] for the Yankees, they will come for this venue,” Boter said.

Back to News Index Page