[EVG photo from August]
It's getting closer for the end credits to roll at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema on East Houston.
As The Lo-Down first reported yesterday, the new owners of the building housing the theater have filed demolition permits to take down the three-level structure here between Eldridge and Forsyth.
Back in May, the Post reported that East End Capital and K Property Group bought the building for $31.5 million with plans to convert it to a mixed-use development with retail and upstairs office space. The site includes 20,000 square feet of air rights.
First sign of the impending new development came in August when workers were taking soil samples...
[EVG photo from Aug. 10]
Landmark reportedly had the opportunity to buy the property, but decided against it after CB3 voted down a proposal for a full liquor license for a cafe in the theater in 2012 for pre- and post-movie drinks and dinner.
Landmark instead decided to invest in a state-of-the-art theater (with an adjoining bar-cafe) that recently opened on West 57th Street.
The Sunshine is expected to close in early 2018. No date has been set. As of now, the Sunshine website lists midnight movies scheduled through Jan. 27 with a possible grand finale of "Dog Day Afternoon."
And a little history of the theater/building, via its website:
Opened December 21, 2001. Built in 1898, the Sunshine Cinema building was formerly the Houston Hippodrome motion picture theatre and a Yiddish vaudeville house but for over 50 years it had been shuttered serving as a hardware warehouse. Landmark has restored the theatre back to its artistic roots and now offers the art-house film lover five state-of-the-art screens dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film as well as non-traditional studio programming...
Given the numerous alterations through the years, the building was never deemed landmark-worthy by the city.
Anyway, I've been taking a few photos each time that I visited the theater in recent months, such as when I was the only person in the auditorium for a screening of "Wetlands" in September...
... and one day maybe...
[East End Capital]
The East End Capital website states that "ground breaking is expected in the second quarter of 2018."
For what?
While pursuing tenants interested in utilizing the structure in its current form, work is also underway for a new, best-in-class office building with retail at the base – a first in the rapidly evolving Lower East Side.