The Business Journal has learned that the federal government’s National Park Service (NPS), which owns the nine acres that are home to the Hyde Park drive-in movie theater at 4114 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park, is in the final stages of negotiating a lease with an operator for the theater. NPS had put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a new operator for the theater. It was learned that an announcement of a deal that would identify the new operator was expected soon.
The RFP noted that NPS could be flexible when it came to rental terms for the property but would need to charge market rate for the rent, which it determined was $4,000 a month and that some capital expenditures by the new operator could offset some of the rent. It also said that a new operator would need to provide all of the equipment necessary for projection and the preparation and sale of food, beverages and snacks since the former operator had taken everything that was its personal property. The Park Service said that it owns the water heater, sinks, toilets, and bathroom fixtures and marquee letters and would provide them to the new operator.
The theater has a capacity of 670 cars and one screen. NPS said that it might be possible to add a second screen. The site includes a single-story, approximately 2,370 square foot building that contains restrooms, a concession stand for quick service convenience food items, storage, and administrative space. NPS said it would sign a lease covering a maximum of ten years, with rent increases adjusted to compensate for inflation.
The drive-in is one of only about 200 drive-ins remaining in the U.S., down from the approximately 4,000 drive-in theaters that were operating in the 1950s when the outdoor movie theater business peaked. The theater opened on July 28, 1950, as the Hyde Park Auto-Vision Theatre and was later renamed Hyde Park Drive-In. The owners were Sidney and Ida Cohen.
In 2000, the theatre was sold to Scenic Hudson Inc. and then acquired by the National Park Service in 2011 as part of the larger historic Farm Lane property. This property was historically included in the 1,522-acre Roosevelt estate, which includes President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s home, Springwood, historic farmlands, forest plantations, Top Cottage, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s house, Val-Kill.
The Park Service had said that the property must continue to be operated as a drive-in and that it is allowed to be open to the public from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The RFP specified that no overnight parking was permitted at the site and it would not allow regularly scheduled events such as flea markets but may allow occasional special events to be held at the property.
