By Carol Tannenhauser
The Metro Theater on Broadway between 99th and 100th Streets, which has been closed for 17 years, is coming back as a “Community Entertainment Center,” with multiple “restaurant-theaters,” showing films and serving food and alcohol, and offering much more, West Side Rag learned from conversations with government officials and Albert Bialek, owner of the theater.
Bialek is not at liberty to reveal more details until Monday, when decisions about the official announcement will be made, he said, but he assured WSR that all the necessary approvals for the new center have been obtained.
More to come!
Yay!
UPDATE: Monday, 3/21, 5 pm — WSR just spoke to Albert Bialek again. He reiterated that the Metro will be a “multi-screen cinema center, with restaurant facilities and meeting rooms available on a rental basis. And independent film showings.”
BUT…
The mysterious principals — “renowned people” — from California will not reveal their identity until they “file their plans,” which they will do in one to three weeks.
PLUS…
A spokesperson for the Department of Buildings sent WSR the following email:
I read the story you published about the Old Metro Theater. I wanted to reach out to let you know that no work permits have been issued by DOB at 2626 Broadway in Manhattan, and to make sure you have the following information:
On 3/19/2022, DOB conducted an inspection of the site in response to a 311 complaint received on 3/15/2022 for reported interior construction work performed without a permit. During the time of the inspection, no active construction work was taking place at the site and no site safety concerns were observed by our inspectors.
DOB inspectors will be routed back to the scene to further investigate these reports of unpermitted construction work at the location.
Will this be another case of dashed hopes as has happened several times in the past? Remember the Alamo Drafthouse? Blink Fitness?
Time and the Rag will tell.
Correction: We originally reported that there will be “20 restaurant-theaters,” but have since learned that number is to be determined.
How big will the screens be if there are twenty of them?
TV sets with one table.
I have now read this item a few times. The former Metro Theater will come back as a “community entertainment center”. That I can grasp. But then it says the site will have “20 restaurant theaters showing films and serving food and alcohol”. How can the former Metro Theater, just a normal size theater, be made to house 20 restaurant theaters, And what is a restaurant theater that shows films? I think Bialek is pulling your leg.
Probably going to be like the Alamo concept previously proposed here, but with different owners. A restaurant theater is a movie theater with food.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2013/03/21/alamo-drafthouse-moviehouse-reveals-menu-from-brunch-to-booze
Wasn’t this site originally proposed for a makeover and relaunch by Alamo Drafthouse then they pulled out after Sandy drove up Manhattan construction costs?
Glad to hear this, particularly just a day or two after hearing that the space would simply be “retail.” I do hope, however, that (i) the owners will consider hiring locally, and (ii) prices will be kept within a reasonable range for the entire neighborhood.
I’m sure the owners would be happy to hire locally but with the current shortage of people willing to work in food/retail they’ll have to accept most anyone willing to come to work.
With the huge range of incomes of people living in the 90’s and low 100’s they’ll have to base their pricing on whatever segment they believe will provide a sustainable income or else the place will quickly become vacant again.
It is an interesting concept and I too am wondering how they’ll get 20 theaters in there. Maybe something more like 20 private party rooms? Best of luck to all involved.
I hope the owners do a Silent Film Festival like the one San Francisco does every year. Lines wrap around the block for it.
Is this the novelty of quieting a NYC crowd? Like some dream-come-true in a city of noise? Plus being visually encompassing for a time when people aren’t speaking? Or like visiting a monastery and having meals in silence?
I’m not so sure I get it.
Sounds great
Ipic? CMX CineBistro?
No live performance space???!! Please inform.
I’ve only lived in the area for seven years, but even I know that any intel about the Metro, especially if it comes from Bialek, has to be taken with a high level of skepticism.
I’ll believe the Metro has “come back” the day an actual business actually opens.
I have lived here for 27 years — when the Metro used to actually be open! — and I concur with you wholeheartedly. The day it opens is the day I’ll believe Bialek. He’s an old, lonely man who loves the attention holding onto this property — which is currently a rat-infested wreck, and needs millions and millions of dollars of investment — gives him.
Sounds like a complicated, expensive-to-run operation with potential safety problems. I think something big is missing from this story as reported.
While I hope they can do something with it the metro has had many similar projects fall through
The big problem here is going to be the NIMBY’s that will come out with the regular group self-appointed community-leaders.
They have killed projects like this for the space saying it would be too noisy/crowded for the UWS. I.E. their property-values and have come out adamantly against any liquor lisc for the site at all.
For years the roof has been sagging, as the entire inside was gutted for a previous failed liquor lisc needed iteration, any construction will be very expensive.
Another proposal.
What happened to the gym or Wingspan Arts? Google this landlord and you see his failure to close on a deal for the Metro.
I call BS. This won’t materialize. Bialek doesn’t want to be pushed into a less profitable community deal and would rather the space sat vacant. And he’d be even more thrilled if some natural event left caused the landmark protected facade to be condemned.
Hilarious. Willing to bet anything this never happens – and I’m an optimist!
It seems to me that unless we’re ok with another 50 story over priced apartment building we should give an entertainment venue a shot. Everybody please take a breath!
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Can’t wait to hear the munching sounds of fried chicken sandwiches during a screening of Hamlet… or beer cans rolling down the aisle. Knives, forks & spoons clanking on plates & glasses.
SOUNDS great. And the aroma of greasy fries. Can’t wait!!!
So like Chuck E. Cheese?
Horrible idea! 20 theaters with food! Why don’t they just call it “The Metro Rat Cave!” And 20 theaters is impossible-just bring back the Metro the way it was with great films.
It will take millions to renovate. Tear it down and build an apartment with retail.
I hope Alamo Drafthouse can make it work. Last year I saw a movie (Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho) at their downtown location, with food and a (real) drink and to be honest, it was great. Did feel bad for the servers who scuttle through the aisles, low to the ground so as not to obstruct the screen, but food-service jobs are all pretty tough and this gig is definitely for the young. If Alamo Drafthouse can keep the Metro alive as a dine-in theater, more power to them: They’re committed to non-blockbuster cinema–you can see the new Batman movie anywhere–and employ more people than most movie theaters.
Incredibly hopeful news! Twenty is an absurd number, but this use would be so very welcome!
C’mon People!!! Let’s assume it will happen.
Anything to make that eyesore a restored venue would be a blessing for the upper west side.
From a sceptic: We have heard all sorts of promises from the owner for 15 years. Believe nothing until you see tenants in place!
I have heard equally believable reports that it will be the site of the next World’s Fair.
What community is this serving? I think the answer plays a HUGE roll in development… I obviously know it’s “for everyone,” but honestly, are you serving the Upper West Side or Harlem? What is the exact purpose (besides financial gain), to introduce a food court and small movie theaters, and “rentable conference rooms…” in an area surroundaed, or at least very close to, plenty of the same exact “luxuries.” Are you looking to put Mom-and-Pop stores out of business and take up a historical building for what seems to be, excuse me, a “half-assed mall?” Genuinely interested in discussing. No hostility intended. Thx.
can I just watch by zoom and get Uber Eats?
Lots of screens and private rooms? Sounds like peep shows or some weird prank.
I’m sorry but this is a con job. Mr. Bialek has applied for work permits to partition the spaces and change the use from theater to retail. There will be no film theater and no live performance permitted. There won’t be a cool cultural nightlife or daylife venue, and there won’t be a community center. This is a food court with video screens.
That sounds like it may be true–a food court with a lot of tv screens. It won’t work of course, but it sounds like that may be the plan. When you had the MacDonalds on Broadway and 83rd it was filled with teenagers, unemployed adults and people working on expensive laptop computers. What they all had in common was they sat in their seats for a really long time and spent very little money.
Disagree. If we go back to Blink Fitness days, the construction was filed as retail. I have a feeling he filed as retail due to the use group of the building. Besides, who would pay to go see a small TV screen theater?
It would be great if they could clean up the graffiti while we are waiting!