TRIBECA — An iconic TriBeCa theater, and the longtime home of the Tribeca Film Festival, quietly shuttered this week, as plans to redevelop its building moved forward.
Tribeca Cinemas — which opened in 2003 as the headquarters for the then-new Tribeca Film Festival — announced on its website that it's now closed and the 13-17 Laight St. building "is up for sale."
"Since 2003 we have enjoyed hosting screenings, film festivals, celebrations and private events," the website reads. "We thank all of our patrons for the support over the years."
According to the New York Post, the six-story building, now a mix of offices and apartments, is being shopped around for about $120 million.
Cushman & Wakefield real estate brokers handling the deal told the Post that it could be transformed into an all-residential building, or commercial space.
A Real Deal article from last year said the building is home to nine apartments, and also comes with "unused air rights which could allow for the construction of more units."
“We think it will trade for over $120 million,” Cushman's James Nelson told the Post earlier this month. “It has high ceilings and is great loft space — it’s what Tribeca is all about.”
A spokeswoman for Tribeca Enterprises, which owns the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Cinemas, said the festival has outgrown the space over the years.
"In the early years of the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Cinemas was a focal point for a number of wonderful festival and private industry events," the spokeswoman said in a statement. "Over time, as the festival grew and our needs changed, we used the space less and less... the space was no longer a primary venue for Festival events or screenings.”
While the Tribeca Film Festival grew, Tribeca Cinemas remained a home for a variety of smaller, quirky film festivals and screenings year-round.
The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival, which screened at the theater for close to a decade, wrote on its Facebook page that the theater will be sorely missed.
"BHFF has called Tribeca Cinemas home for nearly 10 years and we are sad to see this remarkable New York landmark vanish like many before it," the festival wrote.
