St. James theater restoration advances as arts center takes shape
The Calderone Theatre now has a new roof and stabilized stage, and phase two begins in August with air conditioning, seating and new restrooms.
The Calderone Theatre’s long push from preservation talk to real construction reached a visible milestone in St. James, where community leaders, elected officials, artists, volunteers and residents marked the building’s restoration with a ribbon-cutting. The former vaudeville house and movie theater is being reimagined as the Celebrate St. James Center for the Arts, with a second phase of work set to begin in August.
That next stage will add air conditioning, new restrooms, improved entryways, upgraded seating, the St. James Railroad Station diorama and additional stage infrastructure. The goal is not just to save a landmark on Lake Avenue, but to make it function again as a year-round arts center with gallery exhibits, live music, a historic movie museum, classic film screenings, art walks, family events and original theatrical productions.
Celebrate St. James was founded in 2017 by Jack Ader, Arline Goldstein and Natalie Weinstein to help revitalize the Lake Avenue District, an area the group said had suffered major deterioration over the previous decade. The effort got a major boost in December 2024, when the Smithtown Town Board unanimously authorized Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim to purchase the Calderone Theatre for $900,000 and grant Celebrate St. James a 10-year lease so the nonprofit could continue the renovation.
A $211,300 matching grant from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation financed the first phase of the project. That work included a new metal roof that can support future solar installation, along with stabilization and exposure of the theater’s original stage. The foundation awarded the check on June 23, 2025, after a site visit in May, and Celebrate St. James said the roofing work was meant to protect the original tin ceiling and reinforce the aging stage.
The theater’s comeback also has an operating arts component, not just a preservation one. Lighthouse Repertory Theatre Company has an ongoing partnership with Celebrate St. James, and the center is already being positioned as a place where local performers and audiences can gather for rotating exhibits, screenings and live productions. The building’s history adds weight to the effort: it was built in the early 1900s and began showing films on Sundays in 1930.
Wehrheim has called the renovations a “really nice addition” to downtown St. James. With the roof in place, the stage exposed and the next construction phase about to start, the project has moved well beyond concept and into the hard work of making the old theater serve the hamlet again.
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