NEW YORK CITY-Times Square is getting its “Hollywood” moment. After sitting empty for more than 20 years, the long-vacant property at 217 West 42nd St. will be transformed into a 4-D theater devoted to the Broadway experience, the New York Post reported.
Broadway 4D Theaters LLC has entered into a long-term lease for the Times Square Theater with nonprofit the New 42nd Street Inc. to bring the building back to its former grandeur, planning a full restoration of the 1920s-era cinema. The project, called “Broadway Sensation – A 4D Musical Spectacular,” will include a 3-D film-enhanced show with in-theater special effects. It is set to open in late spring or early summer of 2013.
Cora Cahan, president of the New 42nd Street Inc., says in a statement that the developers are “dedicated” to restoring the theater as a place to “celebrate Broadway musicals of the past, the present and the future,” all while fulfilling its commitment to the city and State of New York to “reinvent the historic theaters on the block as places of popular art and culture for the 21st Century and beyond.”
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the Post says the project’s launch is estimated around $60 million. Brad Mendelson and Alan Schmerzler of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction, and John Sergio Fisher and Associates has been tapped as the project architect to restore the theater’s original design by de Rosa and Pereira.
The re-use plan for the theater has already received approval from the city’s Department of Buildings, but a final review of the plans for historic preservation is currently underway.
The news comes shortly after the Times Square Alliance released its December 2011 “Impact of Times Square” report, which found that the area generates 11% of the city’s total economic output and 10% of the city’s jobs. The study, commissioned by national consulting firm HR&A Advisors, Inc., found that the district’s $110 billion economic activity is up 22% since 2007, outpacing city growth of 9% during the same period.
The report shows that annual direct spending on hotels, entertainment and retail in Times Square hit $4.8 billion. Of that piece of the pie, total annual entertainment spending reached $1.27 billion, which factors in 40 Broadway theaters, 56,000 live entertainment seats and 11,000 entertainment employees.
With the 4-D project now underway, producer and theater owner Jimmy Nederlander, Jr., comments: “This will only expand the audience for Broadway shows and add to the range of entertainment in Times Square.”
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