$5M Sought To Purchase UWS Cinema After Decades-Long Closure: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – A new attempt is being made to reopen the Metro Theater, a landmarked cinema at 2626 Broadway near West 99th Street, according to the New York Times.

Nonprofit Upper West Side Cinema Center reportedly reached an agreement with the theater’s current owners to buy it for $7 million. The group has raised $2 million, according to ABC7, and would need to raise an additional $5 million to cover the sale price.

To rehabilitate the theater, the nonprofit would next reportedly need to raise an additional $15 to $25 million.

Closed For Decades

The Metro has been closed since 2005.

Numerous attempts have been made to reopen the theater, most recently as an outpost of indie cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse. None have been successful.

Back in the late 2000s, the Metro nearly became an Urban Outfitters.

On the other end of the neighborhood at Broadway and West 63rd Street, the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas shuttered back in 2018.