By Carol Tannenhauser
West Side Rag has learned from an IndieWire story that a new plan to reopen the legendary, long-shuttered Metro Theater at 2626 Broadway (99th-100th) is in the works.
“IndieWire can exclusively reveal that film producer and veteran executive Ira Deutchman (‘Searching for Mr. Rugoff,’ founder of CineCom and Fine Line Features) is in talks to acquire the Metro Theater, and his plan for the space has the endorsement of local community group the New Friends of Metro Theater,” IndieWire wrote.
Others mentioned as supporters include Martin Scorsese, John Turturro, Ethan Hawke, and Bob Balaban, IndieWire reported.
While acknowledging that the Bialek family, owners of the theater, “only makes this decision and may have a number of choices, our group NEW Friends of Metro Theater is supporting one specific proposal brought by Ira Deutschman and West Side Cinema, LLC,” Liza Cooper, president of NEW Friends of the Metro Theater confirmed to the Rag.
This is not the first time there has been the promise of a reborn Metro Theater. Since it shuttered in 2005, it was to have become a dine-in theater, then a fitness center, then an upscale dine-in theater again, with the last plan falling apart in April of this year, when Albert Bialek, the theater’s owner, died.
“Deutchman has been in talks with Bialek’s estate about his new vision — and achitectural plan — for the Metro,” IndieWire reported. According to the entertainment news site, the plan calls for a five-screen theater with a cafe on the first floor that could also host receptions and community events.
Under Deutchman’s plan, the Metro would be a nonprofit venture, IndieWire said. “He and partner Adeline Monzier, together the founders of Upper West Side Cinema Center, Inc., intend to solicit donations, find private investors, and secure additional financial support from either the city or the state governments.”
The full plan is outlined on their website.
West Side Rag will follow soon with more details.
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Please happen!!!
Sounds like a long endeavor. And the place is just a gutted shell. It needs a full rebuild.
We can only hope !
I love this photo, it was nice on Broadway before the new buildings came and the theater was shut down. It’s sat empty ever since. Pre-Bloomberg there were so many great small places around and the Olympia on 107th street was still open.
I love the photo too! Our family run Homegrown Theater was right next door. Can almost see the awning. Now a high rise overshadows the Metro. I do hope it is revived.
Remember when the rag said the metro was saved?
What a jinx that was. Please don’t jump to conclusions again. It got my hopes up.
It will never happen. It’s an empty building with a roof that is falling down.
It means building a completely new building inside a landmarked facade from scratch. (For a nonprofit budget?)
I wonder how much the Bialeks got for the air rights. Very much limits what can be done on that site.
How much they got for the air rights has no effect on what can be done.
That may be good. They only have to keep the front facade. Everything else can be torn down and rebuilt.
Maybe could they rebuild the theater with new apartments on top that are used to fund the rebuild? Seems like a great idea, is anyone talking about this?
Please built it. Just a multi screen movie theater.
Oh come on. Going to raise money through donations. Sure, just ask the people who occupy the crumbling church @ Amsterdam and 86th.
e-bikers will ruin the reopening of the Metro Theater.
Commenters frequently blame e-bikes for just about everything, but this might take the cake. Is Bragg somehow at fault as well?
Fabulous news. Fingers crossed for this.
Please, please, please may this plan go through. How I’d love to have the Metro open again during my lifetime!
Who knew Scorcese would be the one to potentially take down the stretch of scaffolding currently ranked 2nd in my personal power rankings of sketchiest stretch of scaffolding between 96th and 110th street on Broadway.
There is way too much scaffolding on upper Broadway. This ruins businesses.
Let’s not predict the future, it’s pointless. It’s a great proposal. Let’s wish the team well, and hope for their success. It will be a pleasure to become a paid supporter.
I’d be very hesitant to invest a lot there until the neighborhood gets cleaned up and safer.
It is vacant, unkept, falling down buildings that make it unsafe.
LOL? Safer than what? I happily invested up here and feel quite safe. Not just me but new owners too. Several people on 100 and 101 have purchased brownstones and have converted them back to single family residences or residences with 1 or 2 apts. The guy right across the street seems to have dug a pool into his basement. Bring on the Metro.
Fingers crossed. I think that Ethan Hawke was a driver of the development of the HighLine
I will believe it when I’m actually sitting inside.
Yay! I hope this happens!
We deserve it – a congratulatory community monument – after what we’ve been through since covid.
Why can’t it become what=the New Yorker Theatre was? Not enough interest?
I worked at the New Yorker in the box office and candy stand years ago.
Lucy is going to hold the football and Charlie Brown is going to kick it….
Ira is a colleague of my husband’s, a mensch, and there are few people more embedded in the NYC film scene. I wish him nothing but luck with this project. But over the past ten? twelve? god knows how many? years, group after group has tried to rebuild and reopen this theater. It would be amazing for the neighborhood, but let’s say I’m not optimistic. The costs will be astronomical.
Does Marty Scorsese count as a ‘mensch’ too? 😉
As a businesswoman and donor to several non profits, a tip for the “NEW Friends of the Metro Theater.” Change your name. The shouty caps that likely stem from splitting off from some rival group are petty and childish. You’d be taken more seriously and pull in more funding with a better name
UWS was once the best place for movies but for too long has been among the worst. With the exception of Lincoln Plaza UWS has not had a decent movie theater in years.
Please, Please, Please don’t ruin it with Select Seating.
It would be really nice if the Metro theater reopened in the reported reincarnation. Going back a few lives ago in it’s existence, around 1972, when it had wine velvet seats: we left the theatre in the wee hours and strolling home I felt intense itching, which I figured was some type of allergic reaction to my pantyhose. When we got home, I saw that my thighs were completely covered in itchy, red bumps, and called my mother. After chastising me for calling her in the middle of the night, she said “It’s bedbugs. Wash all your laundry in hot water. “
I remember it as a small theater with only one screen.
Zillow values 2626 Broadway at $1,636,800, accurate considering that according to the article the valuable air rights have previously been sold.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2626-Broadway-New-York-NY-10025/2125934062_zpid/
But will this work in an upscale area where everyone owns a huge HDTV/4KTV??
Tons of NYCDOB issues to resolve – https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?requestid=2&bin=1056460
The air rights are unnecessary if they’re just building a similar sized structure. I’ve also seen inside the structure recently when they had the doors open. It’s not nearly as bad as I expected based on comments I’ve read. Will it happen? Probably not, but more likely from inertia of the owners or investors cold feet. BTW, I own a gigantic TV and you bet I’d walk across the street to see a real film!! If they had a cute vinyl listening cafe I’d jump for joy.
I hope this happens!
I remember the smaller movie theatre around 106th or 107th as well And the New Yorker theatre on Broadway and 89th-88th Street.
Putting 5 theaters in that space sounds like some mighty small theaters. It would be nice if a few of those were art houses, since a large segment of the UWS are arts lovers and foreign movie fans.
The odds of securing funding are slim to none. In addition, the immediate neighborhood has seen better days.