Elected officials push to keep AMC Kips Bay 15 open

Here's an update on the pending closure of the AMC Kips Bay 15 at 31st Street and Second Avenue.

Assemblymember Keith Powers said his office confirmed that NYU Langone purchased the parcel that includes the movie theater and Fairway Market about a year ago, PIX11 reported.

NYU Langone has not publicly disclosed its plans for the property. The future of Fairway is also unclear. 

This last Thursday, Powers and six other local elected officials sent a letter asking NYU Langone to meet with them and discuss ways to keep the theater open. The group includes Rep. Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, City Councilmember Harvey Epstein, and other city and state representatives.

The officials criticized NYU Langone for keeping residents in the dark and called on it to disclose its development plans. They also urged the health system to preserve AMC and Fairway, limit its expansion into commercial corridors and allow public review of any land-use or rezoning proposals.
 

Kips Bay update; We have confirmed that NYU Langone now owns the site at 570 Second Avenue in Kips Bay and has for about a year.

Along with my partners in government, I have written to NYU Langone requesting a dialogue with our offices and the community. pic.twitter.com/wFCALN2YfI

— Keith Powers (@KeithPowersNYC) August 27, 2026

As previously reported, AMC said the 15-screen theater, which opened in 1999 under the Loews umbrella, will operate through the end of the year before closing because the property owner exercised its contractual right to terminate the lease early. 

A formal closing date has not been announced.

The site's movie-theater history dates to 1962. According to Cinema Treasures, the original one-screen Kips Bay Theatre opened that October with "Requiem for a Heavyweight." 

Known for its large screen, 70mm presentations and curtains that opened and closed before each film, the theater shut down in January 1994. The surrounding strip mall was later demolished to make way for the current multiplex and adjacent storefronts.

A resident-led Save Kips Bay campaign and petition are also calling for the theater — the only AMC with an IMAX screen on Manhattan's East Side — to remain open. 

Petition link here.

Closing credits for AMC Kips Bay 15: reports

EVG photo from 2022 

Updated 1 p.m.: A petition has been filed to save the theater, which is set to close so NYU hospitals can expand.

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East Village theatergoers will soon have one less choice for catching a movie nearby. 

The AMC Kips Bay 15 will close at the end of the year, Variety reports. The 15-screen multiplex on Second Avenue at 31st Street is AMC's second-largest theater in Manhattan. 

An AMC spokesperson said the closure is "following the property owner's decision to exercise its contractual right to terminate the theatre's lease before its scheduled expiration." 

While the Kips Bay programming leans heavily toward the latest Hollywood blockbusters, the theater has often tossed a few indie and specialty releases into the mix — making it a useful alternative to the East Village's movie houses. 

The multiplex opened in 1999; AMC took it over in 2006.

Will you shop at the incoming Kips Bay Fairway?

A little outside our usual boundaries... but maybe this might impact someone's shopping routine... Crain's (via Racked) reports that a Fairway is opening in the Second Avenue strip mall that also houses the (often pleasant) AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 ... the grocery will replace the Office Depot and Crunch Gym there at 30th Street.

Had a neighbor who'd always make a weekend morning/afternoon out of hitting either the Harlem or UWS Fairway... I recall going once and being impressed... and wishing that it was closer to home.

Report: Kips Bay 15 to get bigger?

Seeing a movie at one of the chain theaters in the neighborhood (oh, Regal Union Square!) is a soul-sucking experience that makes me question whether there is any good left in the world kinda sucks save for that 11:15 a.m. weekday showing (and even then...).

Which is why we don't see many mainstream movies.

But, if the mood strikes, we will, on occasion, traipse up to the AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 on this suburban stretch of Second Avenue ... less painful and less crowded usually...

[Via]

We're not alone in this pilgrimage. Which is why you might be interested in this item over at pcvstBee ... word there is that the theater will be expanding into the former Borders space next door... Not sure if this will make it better or worse. (More theaters, more crowds?)