AMC Kips Bay 15 could close Jan. 3 as the chain’s CEO asks to keep it on Second Avenue

Kips Bay moviegoers may lose their Second Avenue multiplex early in the new year. Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Theatres, has told the neighborhood that Jan. 3 is the possible last day for the AMC Kips Bay 15, though the company would much rather stay.

Aron published an open letter to Kips Bay residents after Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal pressed the company to speak publicly about the theater’s future. “AMC Theatres does not want to go. Not one little bit,” Aron wrote.

Why the Kips Bay movie theater may close

According to Aron, AMC has been told that NYU Langone Health plans to grow its facilities nearby and appears to be buying the building that houses the multiplex. He wrote that the building’s current owner has already ended AMC’s lease ahead of that sale.

AMC has put several options on the table, Aron said. One would enlarge the building and keep a theater inside it. Another would shrink the theater so it can stay open in less space. He urged NYU Langone to find a solution that gives the area both expanded medical facilities and a working cinema on Second Avenue.

What local officials want from a rezoning

Hoylman-Sigal said he was the one who urged AMC’s leadership to weigh in. He said any rezoning proposal for the site has to bring the neighborhood three things, a movie theater, a supermarket and housing, and he pledged to fight for all three.

The Kips Bay AMC 15 site sits in a 1961 R8/C2-5 zoning district that the Borough President calls outdated, according to the Manhattan Borough President’s office. The Borough President says the building could be converted to outpatient medical offices without any public land use review, according to its press release.

In the letter, Aron thanked the borough president and Assembly Member Keith Powers for backing the theater. He said residents, moviegoers and elected officials had rallied once word spread that the multiplex might shut. The theater has run without interruption for more than 25 years, and AMC has been part of Kips Bay since 1999, he wrote.

If no new arrangement is worked out, the theater’s last day could come on Jan. 3, according to Aron.

What it means for you

The Manhattan Borough President says he will make his approval of any land use application depend on a new cinema and an affordable grocery store being included, according to its press release.