A long-abandoned NYC theater has sold for $7M and its returning to its cinematic roots

This hollowed-out shell of a landmarked Manhattan theater just got its big break. The long-shuttered Metro Theater sold on Friday to the nonprofit Upper West Side Cinema Center, thanks to a big boost from the governor and a star-studded list of supporters.The New York Times first reported on the successful sale.Upper West Side Cinema Center formed in 2024, spearheaded by Ira Deutchman and Adeline Monzier, and signed an ambitious agreement to buy the 10,260-square-foot building for $6.9 million, in cash, by Jan.

10, 2025. “I’ve never been involved in a project that had so many reasons for people to be cheering,” Deutchman told The Post.The Art Deco theater at 2626 Broadway entertained Upper West Siders with movie magic for nearly three quarters of a century before its previous owner shut its doors in 2005, citing untenable competition with megaplex movie theaters.

Albert Bialek, who purchased the property in the 1980s, gutted its interiors and struggled to lease the boarded-up building until his death in 2023. The indie film-focused nonprofit aims to reinvent Metro Theater into a state-of-the-art five-screen cinema with education programs and a bistro.The endeavor enjoyed initial fundraising upwards of $2.5 million and a gaggle of famous friends, including Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke and Tim Blake Nelson, the latter of whom serves on its board of directors.Despite hundreds of donations ahead of the January deadline, the $6.9 million needed was out of reach.Then, the governor stepped in.

With encouragement from Assemblyman Micha Lasher, Gov.Kathy Hochul approved a $3.5 million grant.

That boost, paired with $500,000 from the State Senate, earned the nonprofit a deadline extension. The government support, buoyed by 400-some individual donations and a hefty grant from Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg’s Hearthland Foundation, carried the sale past the finish line on Friday. Deutchman said the neighborhood has long been a “cinema desert,” in need of...