On Tuesday the Greenwich Planning & Zoning commission discussed an amendment to their regs to allow for a 40-seat movie theater at the Hyatt Regency in Old Greenwich, as well as a site plan application.
The movie theater, “Townsend Cinema,” is already open to the public. Building permits were issued by the Town and the hotel received a certificate of occupancy for the work completed, but after the movie theater began operating, a question was raised about its classification under the town’s building zone regulations, and whether a theater is permitted as an incidental use within the hotel.
Photo of Townsend Cinema at Hyatt Regency Greenwich from HRG Hotel Owner LLC c/o Trinity GP Fund I GP, LLC applicant file with Greenwich P&Z.
The Hyatt has been under renovation for three years, included renovation of what was an auditorium/conference space to turn it into the movie theater, with tickets for sale to both guests and the public.
Greenwich zoning regulations define a movie theater as having 150-seats at minimum. Also, the movie theater is attached to the hotel, which is not a concept addressed in the regs.
The applicant was represented by attorney Christopher Fisher of Cuddy & Feder, who was joined by several members of the management operations team.
Mr. Fisher said when the cinema opened there was “an issue of interpretation” related to public access to the space.
“The contractors and everyone involved looked at this as renovation versus change in use. A private screening room, we assumed would be permitted. It really comes down to the public access for ticket purchase,” he said.
“The labeling on the site plan was something like ‘conference room with audio-visual equipment,'” P&Z chair Margarita Alban said.
P&Z director Patrick LaRow said, “It wasn’t disclosed that it was going to be a public theater.”
“But that’s okay. Were here now,” Alban said. “If you listened to us yesterday (at the previous day’s staff briefing), there was no real objection – we just wanted you to do it legit. The labeling was less than transparent, but okay, let’s move on. You’ve been operating it.”
A concern approval might set precedent for movie theaters in other hotels in Greenwich was deemed a non-issue since the other hotels in town are all non-conforming, while the Hyatt is a conforming hotel use in its zone.
Photo of Hyatt Regency Greenwich from the application file. The 373-key Hyatt Regency hotel property was sold by Greenwich Hotel LLC to HRG Hotel Owner LLC on October 7, 2022, for $37,498,348. The purchaser is an investment fund managed by Trinity Fund Advisors LLC for who undertook the multi-million dollar renovation.
Proposed text amendment drafted by the town ZEO.
Mr. Fisher said over the past three years the hotel’s new owners had re-imagined the Hyatt to “bring it back to its prominence in the community,” renovating hotel rooms, refreshing event spaces, internal amenities and some of the publicly accessible areas including the atrium and Townsend restaurant.
“They have been positioning themselves for corporate meetings, conferences, weddings, community events and slightly less reliance on some of the large annual galas that have historically been part of the property’s usage,” Fisher said.
He said the movie theater is open to the public for first-run movie showings, with average attendance about 38-40%, which is about 15 individuals at any one time.
“Right now the estimate is in the area of 80% individuals attending Townsend are from the public at large, and 20% from the hotel,” he continued, adding that the conversion rate from the restaurant as about 20%, and estimated that about 50% of attendees buy some type of food and beverage, including popcorn.
Parking
The commission had no concerns about hours of operation, but the town traffic consultant, BETA Group, asked that the applicant verify the parking demand.
“It looks to me like there is ample parking, and they have been operating successfully without a problem,” Alban said.
However, she said site plan approval might be conditioned on a requirement that the theater amend its schedule if there is a large gala event at the same time.
Mr. Fisher said that was tricky given contractual requirements with film studios that first-run movies have a sufficient number of showings.
That said, Jake Lynch, a member of Trinity Investments, said the Hyatt had gone from having several dozen galas a year to roughly 13, and that not only do they typically not overlap with movie showings, but often the events are daytime luncheon events.
“It is challenging for us to coordinate with the movie studios because they are very stringent with the theaters. If you are taking this movie you have to show it at set times for a two-week run,” Mr. Lynch explained. “However, what we can do is a movie buy-out of the movie theater where we pay the studio for every one of the seats.”
As for the parking question, Lynch said the Hyatt already arranges alternative parking for large galas.
“For example, with the Breast Cancer Alliance, we worked with an overflow parking lot and a shuttle company to bring attendees to our site so there was no overflow of parking. We do still have the informal arrangement set up with the neighboring office building. We also work with a nearby retirement community. We are also looking to establish a relationship with a nearby grocery story.”
Alban said, “Bear in mind the 38 people coming to your movie are not going to want to take a shuttle bus. Whatever way you can think we would condition that so you don’t make those 38 people ride the bus or park in an office building – they’re not going to like it and they’re not going to go back.”
Conflicts with High Security Events
Ms Alban mentioned there had been an event at the same time the Springsteen movie was showing that made some movie-goers uncomfortable.
“It was an incredibly high security event,” Alban said. “I’d rather cover that in the site plan discussion than now because it isn’t pertinent to the zoning regulation. It’s more pertinent to how we condition your site plan. The people I was with did not want to walk into a high security situation with folks that are armed, and be frisked and go through metal detectors and asked what they are doing.”
She suggested adding a condition of site plan approval to prevent a similar conflict.
Mr. Lynch said the event was an annual gathering of an international military fraternal organization.
“That is not the norm for us at all,” he said. “If there is something like that, I completely agree with you, and the solution would be to buy out the theater and not show a movie overlapping with the gala.”
“Should you have a high security event, you’d make an arrangement where the movie theater would not be open to the public,” Alban said.
“And the other thing is, should you have a very large event where you’re going to have limited parking, you will prioritize theater parking?” Alban asked.
“Yes,” Lynch said. “We will make a solve for the gala parking to ensure sufficient parking for the theater.”
“We would ask that you accommodate your employees on site and do the galas and not (shuttle) bus,” Alban added. “And we would do your site plan based on that. And then, if you have a high security event, you would not open the movie theater.”
Mr. Lynch said that was fair, though he was not aware of the hotel requiring employees to park off site.
The lengthy application file features public comment, including a letter from John Spang.
“These homes on Wendle Place and Hassake Road were built by Condé Nast for their employees in the mid 1920’s, not an uncommon practice by paternalistic manufacturing industries during those years,” Spang wrote. “Homes were built in close walking distances to the factories. I own one on each street, both within 1,000 feet of the Hyatt, and received notifications to neither.”
He wrote that Hassake Road itself is a preferred location for overflow hotel event parking and hotel visitors, and at times, cars are left overnight because it is free and safe.
Mr. LaRow said there have been issues in Greenwich with commercial businesses running out of parking and directing employees to park off site, resulting in them taking up the limited on-street parking.
Alban said there was work in progress to a change in a town ordinance to address that situation.
Mr. Lynch said the hotel had sought to make contact with the adjacent office building to engage in a more formal arrangement or easement for overflow parking, but had been unsuccessful.
The office building was originally part of Condé Nast and the informal overflow parking agreement has been in place for decades.
Based on discussion about conflicts between events at the Hyatt and the movie theater resulting in tweaks to the proposed text amendment language drafted by the Zoning Enforcement Officer, the commission must re-notice the application before approval is granted.
Alban said a neighbor in the apartment complex across the street complained of not receiving notice of the application, but the re-notice of the would address that prior to the next meeting.
Dennis Yeskey asked if the movie theater could continue to operate until the commission voted on the application. Ms Alban said yes.
As long as they are before us, fixing the zoning violation, they are okay,” Alban said. “You’re not getting any objection that this is a bad just. it’s just that we want it to be clean and neat because we’re thinking about the other hotels.”
The application was left open and the commission said they would add the application to a meeting soon.