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Mostly Cloudy Olive Garden to replace movie theater?
The Valley Stream Board of Zoning Appeals is considering a proposal for a new Olive Garden to open at the site of Green Acres Cinemas on Sunrise Highway.
Vornado Realty Trust of Paramus, N.J., has owned Green Acres Mall, including the cinemas, since the 1990s. Its plan is to demolish the existing theater and construct an Olive Garden in its place, according to attorney Dominick Minerva Jr., of Minerva & D’Agostino in Valley Stream, who represented Vornado at a Nov. 1 BZA hearing. If approved by the zoning board, the demolition is expected to begin in early spring, and the restaurant would open next fall.
In order to construct the new restaurant, the BZA must grant a special use permit, since the new building would require a change in use from a movie theater to an eatery. Essentially, the company’s proposal calls for variations from the certain sections of the village code, requiring the BZA’s approval. A site development plan review must also be approved by the zoning board.
The movie theater, sits in a C-3, or commercial zone, at 610 W. Sunrise Highway. The 20,000-plus square-foot, two-story building has six standard theater rooms, Minerva said. The building is currently closed.
The Olive Garden restaurant chain, owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc., includes more than 700 restaurants globally. If the proposal is approved, this location would be the third one in Nassau County — there are already two locations in Westbury and Massapequa.
The proposed restaurant would be a one-story building of more than 8,000 square feet, according to Minerva.
There would be a total of approximately 120 employees, with 30 to 35 working at a given time, said Neil Terwilliger, Darden’s site development manager. Four or five managers would run the day-to-day operations, with at least one manager there at all times, he added. The building would seat 314 people, and offer “to go” curbside service. There would be an entrance off of Market Road directly to the west, and others from Arthur Place, which runs behind the building.
Parking would be shared among the whole shopping mall, Minerva said. “All Red Lobster and Olive Garden customers will follow the same traffic patterns,” he said.
