TROY – The long-shuttered American Theater, a former adult theater on River Street, may be reopened as a movie theater and music venue, Mayor Patrick Madden said this week.

“Proctors Collaborative, which includes Proctors in Schenectady, Capital Rep in Albany and Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga, is proposing a reuse of the American Theater on River Street as a movie and music venue,” Madden said Wednesday night. Downtown businesses have long wanted a movie theater downtown in an effort to attract customers.

More details are expected in the coming months, Madden said.

According to Proctors CEO Philip Morris, the city and Proctors are moving forward with a $3.5 million plan to renovate the 285-289 River St. theater into a one-screen cinema and arts-education facility that Proctors will manage.

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The conversion of the former adult theater back to a regular theater and a reopening could come as early as next year depending on whether funds can be secured. It would be Proctors first venture into Rensselaer County.

Proctors’ plans would be the second time since 2017 that an arts organization eyed reopening the theater.

Bow Tie Cinemas considered restoring the 450-seat, 6,800-square foot American Theater as a movie theater but dropped it, deciding to concentrate solely on its proposed 11-theater multiplex down the street at 1 Monument Square. Bow Tie ended its involvement in redeveloping the former City Hall site after encountering difficulties with the 1.2-acre location.

It was estimated it would have cost $3 million to revive the theater, which the city was backing through the city Industrial Development Authority.

The movie theater for many years operated as the Cinema Art Theater showing pornographic movies. The city closed it on March 2, 2006, with police alleging some patrons engaged in sexual acts.

The city also removed the marquee on April 13, 2006. In 2012, the city paid Jan DeGroot, the building's owner, $30,000 to settle his lawsuit about the marquee's removal.

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