The Deuce is losing its juice.
In the newest setback to the gaily-lit block of West forty second Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, construction has ground to a halt on the landmarked, long-dark Times Square Theater, which is being redesigned and expanded for retail or entertainment use.
The project by Stillman International Development isn’t dead, it only hit the pause button. However the delay could augur one more disappointment on the colonnaded, limestone-facade venue that served as a live playhouse and cinema for many of its 102 years.
Elsewhere on the block, meanwhile, large storefronts formerly home to BB King’s Blues Club and the town’s largest McDonald’s stand empty. Crowds still come for “The Lion King” and for Madame Tussauds, but quite a few other storefronts remain up for lease.
Stillman and the nonprofit Recent forty second Street, which oversees the block’s historic theaters, announced the newest plan on the jinxed site at 215 W. forty second St. nearly five years ago.
But as in lots of similar premature victory boasts, it seems that completing the redesign widely shown within the press first will depend on finding a tenant before major construction might be accomplished.
The Times Square Theater is speculated to have two additional floors on top and a dramatic glass box cantilevered over the forty second Street sidewalk.
Powerhouse Colliers broker Bradley Mendelson, who previously lured several major tenants to the positioning, only to see them back out of leases, acknowledged what we suspected from our walk-by observations.
A web based post says the “restored, historically significant constructing” could have 41,500 square feet of “dynamic multi-level retail/entertainment/restaurant/space.”Getty Images
“Work will begin as soon as we’ve a tenant,” Mendelson said. “They don’t wish to do anything which may have to be undone.”
He emphasized, “Stillman remains to be within the deal.”
Completing the job would take one other yr once a tenant signs on and spells out its requirements, he said.
A web based post says the “restored, historically significant constructing” could have 41,500 square feet of “dynamic multi-level retail/entertainment/restaurant/space,” “tremendous glass exposure,” and an outside terrace on the fourth floor.
A lease — technically a sublease — is on the market for 15 years or more.
We reported in June 2019 that in line with city Department of Finance Records, Stillman and its partner, South Korea’s Daishin Securities, are paying rent of $15.8 million for 73 years, including two renewal options.
Previous would-be rescuers included designer Marc Ecko, who walked away from a lease after five years of doing nothing with the space, and a dubious enterprise called Broadway 4D, which was speculated to be a musical attraction helmed by top Hollywood power players.
