Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Horse Trade Theater Group launches campaign to buy 94 St. Mark's Place


Following up on our news yesterday that 94 St. Mark's Place is now for sale... the building houses Under St. Marks, which is operated by Horse Trade Theater Group. Horse Trade just released this statement...

Despite the announcement that 94 St. Marks is now for sale, Horse Trade Theater Group has no plans to close UNDER St. Marks anytime soon, and all scheduled resident productions and rental contracts will be honored. Horse Trade also announces that they will be mounting a capital campaign in order to purchase the property themselves.

“Horse Trade Theater Group is poised for a wonderful expansion. We are looking forward to all of the possibilities owning our own space might realize,” said Horse Trade Artistic Director, Heidi Grumelot. Anyone interested in donating to Horse Trade Theater Group or taking part in the capitol campaign should contact office@horsetrade.info.

Under St. Marks is a downtown performance venue with a rich history. An experimental theatre space since the 1970’s, this 45-seat basement theater is now home to a wide variety of performance artists including The BTK Band, Penny’s Open Mic, Revealed Burlesque, Thank You Robot, Adam Wade, Tanya O’Debra, The Management, Little Lord, the Rising Sun Performance Company, No Tea Productions, Wide Eyed Productions, Animal Parts, Subjective Theatre Company, The Pumpkin Pie Show, and the FRIGID New York Festival.

Previously on EV Grieve:
94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

2 comments:

chris flash said...

I hope the Horse Traders can pull it off, though a $5 million purchase price will require 30% down ($1.5 million), leaving a $3.5 million mortgage requiring a monthly debt service of approximately $35,000. That's a huge nut to crack each month if the rents upstairs don't cover it.

The true value of a building like this is in the area of $500-750k, which would allow for rents to stay low and for underground theater groups to thrive in NYC, but that price is sooo 1980s....

Anonymous said...

I kinda agree w Chris flash. Price asked is way to high to continue viable theater. The numbers don't crunch.