In 2018, we wrote about a GoFundMe campaign launched to save the Metro Theater, which officially closed in 2006 and has been sitting vacant since. That petition proposed to transform the shuttered theater into a “state-of-the-art cinema and performance space, with three screening rooms, a black-box theater and a small cafe.”
While this campaign exceeded its $3,600 goal, raising a total of $4,095, the organizer ultimately returned the funds to the 79 contributing donors, writing in January 2019 that she had “decided to send [their] generous donations back to each and every one of [them],” as the engineer’s appraisal would have cost more than she could raise, adding that “it is going to take yet more time to get to the point where Bialek [the owner of the space] will open his doors to an engineer.”
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A new petition has now been launched on change.org, and it’s addressed to Mayor de Blasio.
The petition opens by stating how “The Upper West Side’s Historic Metro Theater has been vacant for over a decade. This architectural gem was and could be a lively gathering place. With right architect with the right mandate and the right funding this relatively small building could once again become the life of the neighborhood.”
It continues to state that the “theater has been gutted, but imagine the building in the hands of MoMA with a bookstore where the lobby once stood and/or a rooftop cafe.”
The petition’s call-to-action can be found in the second to last paragraph, where the organizer asks “the Mayor (who has an ex-officio seat on the board of MoMA) to use the great powers of the Mayor’s Office to bring the Upper West Side’s Art Deco theater and companion to Metro Diner back in a beautiful way.”
Here’s the new petition – which is seeking signatures (but no financial donations).
The theater almost became an Alamo Draft House in the early 2010s. Sadly, that idea was ultimately scrapped. But it would have been a perfect use of the space. I wouldn’t even mind if it went back to being a movie theater, maybe showing “art house” films.
The Metro is in the hearts of all senior UWSiders and MUST be brought back for new generations
“The theatre has been gutted.” So sad. What’s left inside to preserve?
Did I miss something? Where in the UWS is it?
East side of Broadway, between 99th and 100th.
Every westsider approves.