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Rally for Sunnyside Theater goes on despite rejection of six-month extension

By Bill Parry

The organizer behind Sunday’s rally to save the Sunnyside Center Cinemas from a date with the wrecking ball says the protest will go on despite the theater owner’s rejection of a six-month lease extension. Community activist Ty Sullivan hopes a huge turnout at the neighborhood’s only movie theater at 12:30 p.m. will bring the two sides together for more negotiations.

“We need to get the landlord, John Ciafone, and the theater owner, Rudy Prashad, to sit down and work out a long-term deal for the sake of the kids in this neighborhood,” Sullivan said. “The bottom line is we need to maintain this theater in Sunnyside. As an independent theater it preserves the unique character of this neighborhood. If the property owner were smart, he would make it a money-generating anchor for all the new retail he plans for the ground floor of his new building.”

That is what property owner John Ciafone had in mind when he offered the extension to Prashad, a future in his new seven-story building at 42-17 Queens Blvd. “But he rejected us,” Ciafone said. “We live in a free country and they’re allowed to protest, but they’ve these protesters have it all wrong. I have nothing against Rudy. In fact, I’ve said no to three movie theater chains who made inquiries about coming here. I’ve already said when we’re done with the building project we’ll be happy to bring him back.”

Prashad would love to be back in the future but the six-month extension made little sense business-wise.

“My bags are already packed and at the front door and the staff is already finding new jobs,” he said. “If I stayed we’d be closing in June, missing the summer money-making season. Six months just doesn’t do anything for me. I’m in the same boat with a longer paddle.”

Sullivan said the theater is a vital part of the neighborhood because the prices are affordable and the loss would hurt low-income families who can’t afford big multiplex cinemas in Astoria or Manhattan.

“Ciafone is in danger of becoming the Mister Potter of this neighborhood, to borrow from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ here,” Sullivan said.

It’s a charge Ciafone refutes.

“I’m the bad guy here?” he said. “Look, Rudy’s charging $5 a ticket. The reason he could do that is that his rent is extremely below market rate. I’m no villain, I’m just a businessman.”

Surprisingly, Prashad agrees.

“If there’s anyone I should be angry with it’s the Dime Savings Bank,” Prashad said. “I was negotiating a 20-year lease with Dime when they sold the property to Ciafone with no warning. To make matters worse, they told me to go ahead and upgrade the theater so I invested $750,000 in digital projectors, new screens and a new sound system. I still haven’t paid off those projectors, I’m still in the hole.”

Prashad tried to bid $5.5 million to buy the property himself but the deal had already been struck with Ciafone. Prashad, a retired NYPD detective said he’s not bitter.

“I’m just disappointed,” he said. “When I retired from the force, this became my second life and I fell in love with the business. Then I fell in love with this neighborhood and all its people. Sunnyside for me is New York.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr‌y@cng‌local.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.