TROY, N.Y. - The owner of the Cinema Art Theater is converting the one-time movie house into an adult store, but so far, city officials have yet to issue him permits for his new business.
Jan DeGroote, the theater’s owner, said he is converting the shuttered theater into an adult store after police closed the adult movie house earlier this year when patrons were found having sex inside, the Times-Union reported.
But even after DeGroote began tearing out theater seats to make way for his new store, city officials have not issued him a business permit. He complained that the city keeps “changing the game plan” on him.
The city is scheduled to hold a nuisance abatement hearing stemming from the police raid on the theater. The city says the hearing is needed for the adult store conversion to be approved.
David Mitchell, an attorney for the city, said he was surprised to hear DeGroote’s complaints, saying that a delay in the hearing was due to his attorney who requested the postponement because of a scheduling conflict.
Before the police raid, the 450-seat Cinema Art had been operating continuously since 1917. It began showing adult films in 1963.
Five people were charged with misdemeanors, and the theater was closed based on alleged code violations. Police have said that the raid came after a three-month undercover investigation found dozens of people were meeting there to have sex.
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