As you likely know, the Sunshine Cinema shut down last night ... after the 10:15 screening of "Darkest Hour."
Per previous reports, the new owners — East End Capital and K Property Group — of the building here on East Houston between Eldridge and Forsyth are planning to re-develop the property into a mixed-use retail and office project.
And in a piece on the theater's closing, the Times got the scoop on that new development...
[Via The New York Times]
Per the Times:
The Sunshine will be demolished and turned into a nine-story “boutique” office building for small to midsize companies, said Jonathon Yormak, the founder and managing principal of East End Capital.
“We’re big fans of the Lower East Side,” Mr. Yormak said. “It really needs more 9-to-5 activity and it tends to be very active, obviously, on a night life basis. We believe there is a real demand for office space and for people to work there during the day.”
The new 65,000-square-foot building will be designed by Roger Ferris and feature retail space on the ground floor. Demolition will begin by March and the new building, which is being branded as 141 E. Houston Street, will be completed in late 2019, Mr. Yormak said.
The new building permits haven't been posted just yet at the DOB.
The Sunshine Cinema opened in December 2001.
Built in 1898, the Sunshine Cinema building was formerly the Houston Hippodrome motion picture theatre and a Yiddish vaudeville house.
25 comments:
I hope the nearby residents who spoke out against a liquor license for the Sunshine in 2012 are pleased with themselves.
An office building like this 1 is just the beginning. This will cause a spike in even more bars and restaurants.
Don't be so short-sighted in your NIMBY complaining
Would've been nice if they could've incorporated the old facade and give a bit of unique character to the building. Otherwise boring glass box is boring.
Makes me wanna puke
Nice job by the LES Dwellers and whatever other NIMBYtistas helped to kill off the Sunshine Cinema. You have helped to accelerate the Glassification of your humble little Horridor. Let’s call this addition to the Houston Street Horridor what it is: The Death Star South. Do you see those balconies in the rendering? Looks like a nice spot for a restaurant with a rooftop bar to me.
I agree on this one - They should have been allowed a license.
“We’re big fans of the Lower East Side,” Mr. Yormak said.
I think by any definition that qualifies as Fake News, and that what he really meant to say was "We're big fans of destroying Lower East Side culture in favor of corporate culture, which will make us boatloads more money than any stupid movie theater ever could."
It is disingenuous that you, Giovanni, to blame LES Dwellers for the demise of Sunshine Cinema, when LES Dwellers purpose is to make Hell Square less Hellish. Sunshine was never a problem to them. 'Kinda hard to be a problem to them when Sunshine didn't sell booze or allow their moviegoing patrons to act like Stanton between Essex and Allen assholes.
Usually when one is a "big fan" of something or someone, they tend to just admire from a respectful distance. Not get in there and futz around with everything trying to remake him/her/it to one's own liking. I'm the idiot here though, for trying to parse through some meaningless empty corporate-speak. Big fans I'm sure.
Hard to believe that the architects of this new building have no vision. They have one of the coolest facades staring them in the face. They have eyes but yet they do not see. This facade could be saved and incorporated into the new building. It has style, grace and history....plus it is a stand out among all the other more modern buildings going up all around. Character? It screams character. Yet.....it will be gone. Shame on the developers. Shame on the architects.
So sad. i could have sworn i read something somewhere a while back stating that the developers had planned on incorporating the current facade into the new design, but perhaps that was desperate wishful thinking...
curses to those who continue to strip this city of its history, character, and warmth.
When a developer says: “We’re big fans of the Lower East Side,” he's talking about money. They can make money because of the relative low cost of investment to return. We're cheap. Or politicians are bought and no offense people, there's little or no community opposition to make these developers think twice before coming done here.
Heartbreaking.
So, where are all these politicians to help the neighborhood, not themselves ?
This is a tragedy only New Yorkers, and lower east siders particularly, know only too well over the last several years. We need to crush these suburbanites -- or whatever aliens they are -- from oppressing us any further with their short-sighted shopping mall ideology.
I sure wish the façade of the Sunshine could be preserved; before it opened as a theater, I always wondered what it was.
Good luck crushing these suburbanites, 12:42 PM; they've long ago mutated and taken over. They're like kudzu.
@Scuba Diva - From thelodownny:
"Portions of the structure reportedly date to 1838, when the German evangelical mission was based there. It then became the Houston Athletic Center (1908) and the Houston Hippodrome (1909).
The Hippodrome was a venue for Yiddish vaudeville acts. According to Cinema Treasures, the property changed hands in 1917 and it was renamed the Sunshine, before becoming the Chopein Theatre in the 1930s. After closing in 1945, the building was used for storage.
The building is not protected as a city landmark because it has been so significantly altered over time."
That quote is disgusting.
I just left the East Village for upstate New York. After 50 years! Because of developments like this one, eating away at the very character of daily life, breaking the heart of our community in a thousand small and large ways. And the worst part: no matter the anger, vehemence, or even all the good intentions will not effect much change for very long. Some call it progress, but that depends entirely on your definition of the word.
There was a report on CBS News today stating that 21% of the population of NYC is from suburbia. That's why there are so many chain stores. It makes them feel comfortable. GOD! WE WOULDN'T WANT IT ANY OTHER WAY.
“We’re big fans of the Lower East Side,” Mr. Yormak said. “It really needs more 9-to-5 activity and it tends to be very active, obviously, on a night life basis." Yeah, Yormak -- you and your cretins are DESTROYING part of that "night life" you'll be using as a selling point to the suckers you plan to rent to.
The SHADOW has learned from Sunshine employees that their lease ran out last year and that they were on a month-to-month lease until the new owner suddenly gave them a 30 day notice to split.
I don't get WHY, considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the Sunshine group to breathe new life into that dormant shell, they didn't BUY the building in order to protect their investment. That was a big mistake.
Now we hear that Sunshine is opening or has opened a new spot at 57th Street + 11th Ave, called "57 WEST" that will offer food and booze with films. Too bad that the PAID OFF "SLA Committee" of the UN-elected and therefore UN-accountable "community" board 3 refused to approve the Sunshine on Houston offering food and liquor as well. (From what we are told, with a liquor license at the Houston Street location, Sunshine could have stayed in business there.)
Regardless of somewhat contradictory stories, the bottom line is that the loss of The Sunshine could have been avoided by:
• Landmark protection. Plenty of sites have been designated as landmarks even if interiors have been altered. Any new purchaser would have had to either incorporate the historic exterior into the new project or, better yet, KEEP it as a THEATER, as it was MEANT to be.
• Zoning restrictions. If this site was zoned as a two story theater and NOTHING else, a new owner would either not buy the property because demolishing it only to replace it with a theater of the same size would be financially unsound, or better yet, KEEP it as a THEATER, as it was MEANT to be.
What we have here is a crooked city administration and complicit city council members who allow developers to build as high as they like, with NO regard to the scale of surrounding structures. NO restrictions, NO limits, WITH tax abatements and other incentives for creating "market rate" rentals for monied transients invading and occupying (for now) our city....
Many of us came from suburbia to escape it. I was born in the suburbs and my worst nightmare is seeing anything suburban in this city. The funny thing is I was recently in a small town where some of the young people were fantasizing about conveniences like chain stores and malls. I don't think you can blame just one demographic for this. It all comes down to greed and landlords sucking out as much money as they can with no regard to the legacy they leave behind.
It’s not the Lower East Side anymore, it’s the Lower East Suburbia. Welcome to the Horridor,
No, Giovanni you are giving Sunshine too much credit. I wasn't involved in this one, but a liquor license at a movie theater probably would not be the primary thing but an offering to patrons. In other words, it probably wasn't going to make them all that much revenue. Given the amount of money they are getting now, they would have sold anyway. Maybe they could have negotiated to keep the theater with additional commercial on top, but the amount they were offered. The people on that side of Houston have been been under unheard of assault. The police have had to rope off streets because of crowds and there's been violence. It's not nymbyism given the situation. Nimbyism to me, is someone living on Park Avenue, not wanting to have a Planned Parenthood open on their block. It's a sad story, what a beautiful building. I wish we could have saved the other theaters on Avenue A and Avenue B and Mary Help of Christian's, omg the Steiner building is the worst one so far.
Sunshine tried. I don't have any problem with a theater having food and drink. The whole thing just bombed. And there wasn't enough communication. They tried to landmark it, that would have been something. In the end they didn't own the building and it was sold. A tragedy.
The other theater, Metrograph has a bar and restaurant. I only wish that the restaurant was more casual. A better idea for them would be a cafeteria setting with nice tables where people could talk and have a plate for dinner or just coffee, not brunch or pricey meals.
I think we aren't seeing the whole picture.On the Cb 3 site from 2012 it says they wanted to have 3 bars with 33 bar stools and 30 tables and 82 seats with cocktails and bar food. I see part of the problem now. They wanted to have a big lounge.This wasn't going to be a cafe and bar. They should have done that. Any business can obtain a beer and wine license immediately. They at least could have opened with that and food and possibly upgraded shortly after. Any one of us could have gone to the CB in support. The facts are screwy. The city is to blame.
Support the remaining Manhattan indie movie houses Metrograph, Angelika Theater, Film Forum, IFC Center, Quad Cinemas, Cinema Village, and Village Cinema East!!!
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