More head scratching on Hollywood Theater

I travel up and down Sandy a lot, so I routinely go past the Hollywood Theater. I still can’t get over the concept that they think they’re better off with an empty garbage strewn lot for a neighbor rather then an apartment building targeted at young, single, bike/transit oriented people. But I’ll put aside the economics, it isn’t my theater after all. Considering only the aesthetic question of whether an apartment building would “infringe” on the theater’s image, I still think they’re nuts.

Below is a series of pictures from the southwest (the theater sits on a street running diagonal, from the southwest to the northeast). And I’ll assume no one would suggest the proposed building interferes with the view from the northeast, since from that angle the theater is in front.

First I’ll set the floor. The theater is barely visible from either side of Sandy at 3900. On the west side a traffic island with trees almost totally obscures the theater, if you zoom and look closely you can see the billboard.

From the east side, the only portion of the theater visible is the top of the facade tower.

Moving up toward 40th street, the theater comes in to view on the west side. You can also see how much is happening to obscure the view. Trees and street signs everywhere.
Over on the east side of Sandy, the sidewalk is shifted to allow a turning lane. No part of the theater is visible.

On the west side, it's only when you get to 40th that you can see the view and imagine it being adversely affected by the apartments.
Note that on the East side there is no impact on the view at 40th, the facade is almost totally obscured by trees.

Finally, moving on to 41st the west side facade view becomes clear as you'd move past the apartment building.
On the east side you begin getting a view impact once you clear the trees, roughly midway between 40th and 41st.


So to recap, there is no impact to the view anywhere except between 40th and 41st. On the west side the lower half of that block is affected, on the east side it's the upper half. Round up and call it one square block. What is that worth? Then consider the view we have now:


Why is this even a discussion?