Carteret theater-restoration project receives $350,000

• Carteret has received %24350%2C000 from the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders to help restore a former Washington Avenue vaudeville theater into a performing arts center.
• During the summer Carteret purchased the former Vallone's Bakery building%2C which from 1928 to 1965 housed the Ritz Theater a stop on the vaudeville performance circuit in the 1930s. The bakery closed last year.
• Carteret is looking to restore the building to its original use and make it the cornerstone of an arts district.
• Construction plans are expected to be ready next year%2C with the goal of reopening the theater in 2017.

CARTERET – The borough has received $350,000 from the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders to help restore a former Washington Avenue vaudeville theater into a performing arts center.

"Thank you to all our freeholders for investing in our community and in a revitalization of the arts in Carteret," Mayor Daniel Reiman posted on his Facebook page along with a photo of him and Freeholder Chairman Ronald Rios holding a check.

During the summer, the municipality purchased the former Vallone's Bakery building, which from 1928 to 1965 housed the Ritz Theater a stop on the vaudeville performance circuit in the 1930s. The bakery closed last year.

The borough is looking to restore the building to its original use and make it the cornerstone of an arts district.

Reiman has said once the building it renovated into a performing arts center it will house a 1,250-seat auditorium to host theatrical and musical performances, similar to the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank or the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.

According to Reiman, much of the building's original theater decor remains.

The two-story structure was built around 1926 and served as a vaudeville theater before becoming a movie house. When it was purchased in 1982 by James Vallone Sr. and his wife, Patricia, it had been used as a sewing factory. The Vallones turned it into an Italian bakery on the first floor, with two apartments on the upper level. The bakery closed late last year because of declining business after a 30-year run.

The building has 30-foot-high ceilings and old-fashioned art deco plaster, but it has deteriorated over time.

Borough plans call for a movie theater to be located next to the former Ritz Theater building.

Construction plans are expected to be ready early next year, with the goal of reopening the theater in 2017.

Staff Writer Suzanne Russell; 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com