Roger Equities has acquired a movie theater site at 1001 Third Avenue for $41 million with plans to redevelop it into rental housing, seven months after Reading International listed the property with a $50 million target, Commercial Observer has learned.
S3 Capital provided a $37 million acquisition and predevelopment loan for the Upper East Side property that housed Cinema 123 for 64 years before it closed in September in advance of the sale. MarketWatch reported the purchase price in early September, but the buyer was not disclosed.
Roger Equities is looking to transform the movie theater property into multifamily housing under New York City’s 485-x tax abatement program, according to a source familiar with the transaction. Plans are still in the preliminary stage, the source said.
Newmark arranged the sale with a team consisting of Adam Doneger, Adam Spies and Avery Silverstein. The brokerage also negotiated the debt with a team featuring Jordan Roeschlaub, Max Ralby, Niv Shahmoon and Dante DiStefano.
Newmark did not immediately return a request for comment.
Previous marketing materials for the property listed by Newmark said the site could be repositioned as a mixed-use luxury tower, Crain’s New York Business reported in late October.
The property’s roughly 8,000-square-foot lot across Third Avenue from the eastern side of Bloomingdale’s Manhattan flagship store can accommodate a new residential development encompassing around 80,000 square feet, and nearly 100,000 square feet if it includes an affordable housing component, according to Crain’s.
S3 Capital and Roger Equities did not immediately return requests for comment.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.
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