Alamo Drafthouse may open its third NYC theater in the Financial District

Less than a month after announcing its second New York City location—on Staten Island—Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is thisclose to inking a lease for a third theater in the five boroughs. The Post has learned that the Austin-based mini movie theater empire is about to sign a lease for a Financial District location at 28 Liberty Street.

This would be the Financial District’s second movie theater with full seat-side food and beverage service, after the South Street Seaport’s iPic. The Post says Alamo’s 28 Liberty outpost will include ten or more screens with seating for up to 600 per theater on the landmarked office tower’s third underground floor. The 40,000-square-foot movie theater is expected to open in 2018.

The movie theater is part of the landmarked tower’s transformation from One Chase Manhattan Plaza into 28 Liberty Street. Fosun International Ltd. purchased the late 1950s office tower from JP Morgan Chase for $725 million in December 2013 with plans to overhaul its two and a half acre public plaza and retail space.

Fosun is funneling between $100 million and $200 million into a revamp designed by original tower architects Skidmore, Owing, & Merrill that would add more than 175,000 square feet of retail space to the tower, of which 130,000 square feet will be below ground. The Landmarks Preservation Commission okayed the upgrades to the tower in August 2015.

Alamo Drafthouse opened its first New York City theater at Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point complex in October 2016.

• Financial District becoming a mecca for movie theaters [NYP]
• Alamo Drafthouse will open a second NYC location on Staten Island [Curbed]
• Brooklyn’s long-awaited Alamo Drafthouse preps for its grand opening [Curbed]
• Former Chase Manhattan Plaza Renovation Moves Forward [Curbed]