You Can Buy Manhattan's Longest Running Off BDWY Theater For $13M

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — If you were waiting for the right moment to buy Manhattan's longest-running off-Broadway theater, this is your moment.

You just need $13 million.

The iconic Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village was recently put on the market again after a previously agreed upon deal in July fell apart.

The Cherry Lane Theatre site, which first opened in 1923, includes two theaters and eight residential apartments at 38-42 Commerce Street.

The property includes the historic 179-seat Cherry Lane Theatre and the newly renovated 60-seat Cherry Lane Studio Theatre.

"The magnificent history of 38 Commerce Street begins in 1817 with the original site of a farm. Where the farm silo once stood, a brewery was erected 1836 which then became a tobacco warehouse and later a box factory," reads a description on a listing for the property. "In 1923, a group of theater artists led by Evelyn Vaughn, William Rainey, Reginald Travers & later, Edna St. Vincent Millay, commissioned famed scenic designer Cleon Throckmorton to convert the box factory into Cherry Lane Playhouse."

The building at 38-40 Commerce Street is three stories, while the 42 Commerce Street building is four stories.

In terms of the most likely buyer, Mary Vetri, a real estate agent overseeing the sale, told Bloomberg that she thinks it will be someone associated with theater.

"I think it's going to be associated with the theater because it must remain a theater," Vetri told Bloomberg. "I'm very encouraged this is a good time to bring it to the market."

The theater will be purchased from Angelina Fiordellisi, who has served as the executive director of the Cherry Lane Theatre since she acquired the building in 1996. During her time in charge, Fiordellisi oversaw a $3 million renovation of its 179-seat mainstage and converted a former storage space into the 60-seat studio theater.

"It has been a great run," Fiordellisi said in a statement sent out in July when it was announced that the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation was buying the Cherry Lane Theatre. "To stand on the stage where so many of our greatest artists, crews and theatre providers have stood is to know what theatre history really feels like."

It is not clear why Lucille Lortel Theatre's purchase of the 38-42 Commerce Street property fell apart.

You can check out the floor plan for the Cherry Lane Theatre and its adjacent building on the Brown Harris Stevens real estate website.