AMC Kips Bay 15 in Manhattan Will Close on January 3
AMC Kips Bay 15, a 15-screen cinema at 570 Second Avenue in Manhattan, will close on January 3. The date came in a letter from AMC chief executive Adam Aron, as Variety reported.
Aron's letter to the Kips Bay community ran as a two-part post series on X. He titled it "AMC Does Not Want to Go. We Want to Stay." He wrote that AMC has been part of the neighbourhood since the theatre opened on May 14, 1999. AMC took over the site in 2006.
The reason is the building. The owner ended AMC's lease in anticipation of a transfer to NYU Langone Health, the medical centre, which wants to expand its facility. Aron said NYU Langone is in the process of buying the building and wants AMC gone. NYU Langone plans to turn the cinema space into a medical campus, according to Variety's September report.
AMC put forward alternatives. One would enlarge the low-rise building while keeping a theatre in place. Another would make the theatre smaller. Aron said every version AMC proposed to preserve a cinema has been rejected. He also said that whether AMC stays in Kips Bay is not AMC's decision to make. The building also houses a Fairway supermarket and a bank, which are expected to close as well.
Local residents have pushed back. A protest in September aimed to stop the closure. About 100 residents joined a Community Board 6 meeting to voice concerns, and all 47 written testimonials submitted to the meeting opposed the closure, NYU's student newspaper reported.
Kips Bay 15 is AMC's second-largest multiplex in New York City, behind the Empire 25 in Times Square. On several days this summer, it ranked among the 10 most-attended movie theatres out of more than 500 AMC locations in the United States.
AMC is the largest movie exhibition company in the United States and in the world. It operates about 860 theatres and 9,600 screens across the globe, according to its investor site.
For moviegoers on the East Side, January 3 is the date to note. Until then, the theatre remains open, and the building's future is in the hands of its owner and the buyer, not the cinema's operator.
