Add The New York Post on Google The show’s not over yet.
A coalition of movie-loving local politicians is looking for a plot twist in the tale of the soon-to-be-closed AMC Kips Bay 15 — begging its owner to allow the Manhattan IMAX cinema to continue to operate.
The “disappointed” lawmakers are pleading with healthcare behemoth NYU Langone, which bought the site for medical ventures, to consider allowing the beloved landmark to remain open when it officially takes over the Second Avenue building that houses it.
NYU Langone has purchased the building that is currently occupied by the AMC Kips Bay IMAX movie theater. Getty Images “This is the single biggest issue that I have been engaged on in my time both in the City Council and [state] assembly,” said Assemblyman Keith Powers, whose district contains the AMC, to The Post.
“I’ve had thousands and thousands of neighbors, constituents and New Yorkers who have been talking to me about this issue, following me now on social media, trying to understand what the next steps are.
“There’s clearly something that NYU Langone does not understand about how much the neighborhood and community and, frankly, the city cares about this movie theater,” he said.
Powers, along with fellow district representatives Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and US Rep. Jerry Nadler, penned a letter to NYU Langone on Aug. 27 asking for a “dialogue” concerning the future of the 15-screen AMC theater.
The coalition expressed “hope” that the theater — as well as the neighboring Fairway supermarket — could continue to operate amid their new owner’s other business.
The pols chastized NYU Langone for failing to notify their offices about the massive purchase and not providing updates on its planned development after severe community backlash over the news.
Powers said he and the other lawmakers only learned of the property purchases after AMC revealed it was being evicted.
He said his office had to reach out to big neighborhood corporations who could have been the buyer to learn who was actually the new owner.
State Assemblyman Keith Powers is among a group of local lawmakers enraged over plans to nix the beloved theater. Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post “We did not have any awareness of a plan for that site that would uproot a number of businesses that we really care about,” Powers said. “It’s also important for us to know what any large-scale plan in our community looks like.
“It seems like they had been hiding something from the community for over a year, and so we wanted to clearly express our right to them to be on the record for the first time with them about exactly what our feelings were on that process and plan.”
NYU Langone did not respond to the letter and has not provided any details on its plans for the theater, according to Powers.
Neither NYU Langone nor AMC responded to numerous Post requests for comment.
The 570 Second Ave. address has been a cinema since 1962, when the Kips Bay Theater first raised its curtains, according to the St. Vartan Park Conservancy Newsletter.
AMC moved into the space in 2006 after first opening at a smaller five-screen venue several blocks away.
It is the only IMAX cinema in the area, movie lovers argue.
More than 3,200 people have signed a petition to save the theater, with organizers claiming the block doesn’t need another “institutional medical space.”
