The Kings Theater is big. It’s the borough that got small.

Built in a more opulent time for a more populous Brooklyn, the Loew’s Kings at 1025 Flatbush Avenue has spent more than three decades in New York City’s hands. The struggling old movie palace, which once accommodated 3,600 theatergoers, closed not long after the 1977 blackout. The property was seized for nonpayment of taxes.

Would-be rescuers, Magic Johnson among them, came and went. The Kings never fully lost its haunted Hollywood grandeur, but its glory was draining away.

Today, however, seemingly in concert with the revitalization of Brooklyn, the Kings has begun to dazzle again. Plasterers and painters are back in charge. There is visible reason to believe the ACE Theatrical Group of Houston when it says the theater will reopen in 2015.

ACE, Goldman Sachs and the National Development Council hold a 55-year lease on the property from the city’s Economic Development Corporation. They plan to spend $94 million — $51.5 million of it from public sources — to restore and enlarge the theater into a performing arts showcase. The architects are Martinez & Johnson.