New York moviegoers are preemptively grieving the Kips Bay AMC theater in Manhattan, which city officials confirmed will close at the end of the year.
The news of the impending closure of AMC Kips Bay 15 was first reported by Variety last week, followed by confirmation from state Assemblymember Keith Powers that NYU Langone had purchased the retail complex where the theater sits, which also includes a Fairway Market and a bank. Powers said the deal, and the plans to close the theater, came as a surprise to him and other local elected officials.
New Yorkers shared their dismay at the news across social media, and a petition to save the theater has more than 7,000 signatures.
“I am truly devastated about this. There is not another theater nearby with the same type of atmosphere, excitement, and community feel than this one,” one petition signer wrote. “Losing it is going to leave a very big hole in our community.”
The closure is personal for Powers, who said he’s been watching movies in theaters his entire life. He, along with Congressmember Jerry Nadler, Councilmember Harvey Epstein, and other elected officials, sent a letter to NYU Langone’s CEO Alex Kimmelman, asking for more information about the plans for the lot late last week.
“They had not communicated any plans about the movie theater or the supermarket that are there, let alone the other retail that’s in that complex right now, and surprised all of us by kicking out the movie theater and telling them that they needed to leave by the end of the year,” Powers said. “We have heard now from thousands of constituents and New Yorkers about their concerns with it, so we’ve been trying to figure out what the plans are and communicate with NYU about the concerns from the community about losing their cherished retail there.”
Powers said NYU confirmed it had bought the lot, but there has yet to be a briefing on the plans for the space.
NYU Langone and AMC did not return a request for comment.
“We certainly would love to look for a plan that allows them to take over new space, add in new healthcare facilities into the neighborhood, while also looking for a way to preserve what’s there and what the neighborhood really wants,” Powers said.
Brooklyn resident Nicole Tejeda, who works at a coffee shop across the street, said she’s had many conversations about the news with distraught regulars.
“Everyone is going to miss the movie theater. They do not want it to go,” Tejeda said, adding she’s hopeful that a change may still have a good economic impact. “We do think that money is going to be brought into the community more, but everyone is going to miss the AMC theater.”
NYU Langone has a large presence in the area, operating Tish Hospital and Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion a block away from the movie theater.