The former Metro theater on Broadway at 99th Street is set to be turned into a five-screen arthouse theater thanks to grants from the city and state of New York and private donors including the Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg Hearthland Foundation, the Klingenstein-Martell Foundation and the Brandt Jackson Foundation.
The Upper West Side Cinema Center, a newly formed nonprofit, completed the $6.9 million purchase of the building, said president and co-founder, producer Ira Deutchman. He launched the center with Adeline Monzier to bring “art cinema back to the Upper West Side, which has become a cinema desert since the demise of the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.” The yet-to-be-named arthouse will feature movie classics, foreign films, documentaries, and first-run independent films. The plan also includes an education center and a café and lounge open to the street.
“The outpouring of support for this project has been astounding, considering it was a huge leap of faith to donate to something that was so speculative. I’ve never been involved in anything that had such universal appeal,” says Deutchman, a film industry leader who has produced his fair share of indie films and founded several film production and distribution companies.
The original announcement of the intended purchase brought immediate support not only from the neighborhood, but also from filmmakers who are fighting to keep theatrical moviegoing alive. Such notables as Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, Frances McDormand, Griffin Dunne and others signed on to be advisors to the organization. It also brought an early endorsement from a neighborhood advocacy group New Friends of Metro Theater, which has been lobbying to make sure the theater was maintained as an arts venue.
Upper West Side Cinema Center will now embark on Phase 2 of its campaign to raise the funds necessary to build out the facility and restore the landmarked façade.
Deutchman told Deadline the project will cost an estimated $15 million-$22 million, and that there are funds available to give construction a “head start.” He’s looking to get the theater up and running within three years.
New York State supported the purchase of the building with two grants: $3.5 million from Gov. Kathy Hochul, as requested by Assemblymember Micah Lasher, and $500,000 from the state Senate, secured by state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Hochul’s allocation of discretionary funding was initiated as the Cinema Center faced a January deadline to close on the acquisition of the property. The grant enabled the extension of the deadline and provided the Cinema Center with sufficient additional funds to make the purchase.
“For far too long, the beloved Metro Theater has sat empty — waiting for leaders with the courage and conviction to bring it back to life,” said Hochul. “The Upper West Side community deserves another world-class venue for cinema and art.”
“I’m thrilled that West Siders have come together to save the iconic Metro Theater,” said Hoylman-Sigal. “Thanks to the Upper West Side Cinema Center, and hundreds of individual donors, this art deco masterpiece, which has been abandoned for twenty years, is now on its way to being fully restored and reopened.”
In remarks Sunday announcing the project outside its new home, Detuchman said, “For nearly two decades, the historic Metro Theater has stood as a silent reminder of what once was — its Art Deco marquee, a faded symbol of cultural vibrancy that illuminated Broadway at 99th Street starting in 1933. As storefronts around it emptied and community spaces diminished, the Upper West Side lost not only a theater, but a gathering place where stories were shared, perspectives broadened, and neighbors connected through the universal language of film.
“In a world increasingly defined by digital isolation and societal fragmentation, the continued vacancy of this landmark space represented something larger: the gradual erosion of shared experiences that bind us together as a diverse community. While Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn saw independent cinema flourish, Upper Manhattan became a cultural desert for film lovers, with no independent theaters north of Lincoln Center. Upper West Side Cinema Center emerged as a response to this void — not just to reclaim a building, but to revitalize a neighborhood and reconnect a community. We believe that cinema is more than entertainment; it’s a portal to understanding different lives, cultures, and perspectives.”