Commodore Cinemas
329 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11211
329 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11211
22 people
favorited this theater
Showing 201 - 225 of 304 comments
If you need any monetary backers to the project, you can contact me at the following address, maybe we can get something started like a fund raiser. I know several people that might be intersted in the project. My e-mail is Anniegirl
I actually found the broker and have access to the city records to this. So if you can email me directly through Cinema Treasures, I will email you back with my direct email address.
Hello Ligg, yes I am still interested in the Commodore but depending on the internal condition would I consider a higher price then the 3 million that is rumored to buy it. I have tired to find the owners but so far have come up empty. Please advise if you know of any other ones or can locate an owner. Thank you.
It is still baffling after making phone calls what is going to be done with it.
Dear Lost Memory, This is a disgrace to see this my old moviehouse be in such disarray. I am saddened to see this. Anniegirl
Dear Lost Memory, This is a disgrace to see this my old moviehouse be in such disarray. I am saddened to see this. Anniegirl
This was the best moviehouse in the neighborhood. I went here as a kid in the 50’s. I seen many first run movies there. At some point it started running Spanish language movies for the spanish community. But there was a hotel and a ice cream soda fountain next to the hotel. The J and M lines ran overhead. Anniegirl louieb’s wife
posted by louieb Apr 21 2006
Ligg, I agree with most of what you said, except for the “The Commodore was there long before the subway came through” statement. The Broadway El was originally built in 1888. It predates the Williamsburg Bridge. It originally ran straight down Broadway (on the other side of the Williamsburg Savings bank, and in front of Peter Lugers and terminated at the Broadway Ferry at the East River.
When the WillyB was constructed, it was connected to that. Around 1914 or 1915, the Broadway El was heavily strengthened to allow for heavier subway cars (as opposed to the old 1880’s el cars it was originally built for). The Commondore was built in the 1920’s, almost 40 years after the el was already there.
EFAjr, Still have the cash to buy back to Commodore?
Two years ago, the Hasidim wanted $3 million for it. I do not think they will go any lower unfortunately, if anything they might go higher over the last two years.
However, did you all know that Williamsburg had Vaudville theaters on every block during the 1920’s and 1930’s? The Commodore was the last working theater of these however, I might suspect, behind one of these warehouses or several of them is an old theater. I already, through research found old breweries more towards bushwick, but when asked to see the warehouse from calling the “For Rent” sign, I found the underground cooling area before refrigeration was electric.
So maybe with a little reserach you can find a theater behind the aluminum siding. Now might be the best time. With the rezoning of Williamsburg, you could save it and get it for cheap if you can find the hidden theaters that be could be historic landmarks that the developers cannot rip down.
The Commodore to me would be great to save, but the location is horrible. It is kind of out of the way from the rest of “trendy” Williamsburg, meaning, on one side, you have the end of the gentified area, and on the other the Hasidim, who I can surely tell you would not see a movie.
The second is the location to the subway. It was there long before the subway came through. The theater only closed a few years ago though. In fact the first “Lord of the Rings” did play there. Yes, the Peter Jackson one, not the cartoon!
Anyone know how the sound was with the subway going by? Was it sound proofed or did you have to live with it? I remember even the basement screening rooms at Tisch School of the Arts had that problem with the N and R train, as much as it was sound proofed, you could not get rid of the subway noise and vibration. Sitting in class, we could feel and hear the subway, though you got used to it.
I am wondering with an elevated subway going right by a theater, how much noise is made and if the theater would vibrate as like I said, the theater was there long before the subway and the theater was not made to be a neighbor!
Anyone have some experiences to tell?
A theater did open on Metropolitan between Union and Lorimer. I remember when it first opened as “Jack of all trades” space where the guy who rented it, rented it out for yoga, art openings, etc. It is a converted garage and raw space.
However it is a live theater not a movie theater unfortunately. The website is: http://www.bricktheater.com/Home.html
I heard there was an independent movie theater opening on Metropolitan Anve in Williamsburg by Feb 07. Does anybody know what kind of theater this will be or who is opening it? Thanks!
I heard there was an independent movie theater opening on Metropolitan Anve in Williamsburg by Feb 07. Does anybody know what kind of theater this will be or who is opening it? Thanks!
Greenpoint, I agree with you completely on most of what you said, however, the Ridgewood Theater is much closer that Astoria or Sunnyside to Williamsburg.
OK EFAjr, email me through this site, and I will send you my contact email and phone number. I cannot promise you they will sell to you, but I can find the out information if I look though my notes, or search the lexis site,
I would be willing to pay up to 2.5 million for the Commodore and keep it as a theater. So if anyone knows the owners please forward the information to me. Thank you.
If the new owners just bought the theater in 2002 and turned around and offered to sell it for 3 million, it appears that their intention all along was to just sell the property at a profit and not renovate the theater or build anything to replace it. Sounds very similar to the Keith’s in Flushing.
posted by Lost Memory on Jul 14, 2005 at 10:12am
I Agree with you 100%…the real estate market in the Greenpoint-Williamsburgh area has went through the roof…realistically 3million
although extremely high is about what a parcel of land would run…
once demolished builders can build a 10 or 20 apartment complex chock-full of yuppies paying upwards of $2000 just for the privilege of living a block away from the J Train( one stop to Delancey Street -Lower East Side-hipster central)
And who suffers in the end, film goers like ourselves who dont really have a neighborhood theatre to call our own..Closest theatre for Greenpoint/Williamsburgh folk is the Kaufmann 14 in Astoria or the Center in Sunnyside..thats it.
Sincerely Greenpoint
does anyone know the contact information for the new owners of the Commodore. Please email me at
David L: I’ve been interested in opening a Williamsburg theater. Drop a response to my post and we can speak further about this.
I’ve also been doing some research on putting together a movie theater business in Williamsburg. I’d love to chat with anyone who has similar ambitions.
Yes it does. They sould like gougers, and apparently are very difficult to deal with. What a shame the tehater is in their hands.
It was offered to him at a later date than July 2002, because it’s the NEW owners that said they want the 3 million.
The theater was sold for $1.6 million. However in my email above, I spoke to people who own the theater as per the city sales list and probably connected to ECP. They did not know what they were doing at the time. They bought theater but had no plans, at least what they said even though it says differently in the announcement. The owner told me that he would be interested in selling the theater for $3 million, however, the deal breaker was the fact that, they would not let anyone allowed in to take pictures or to see the interior or inspections reports until you put $3 million is escorow to prove you had $3 milllion. When I explained there is a possibility to get investors to put up the money but I must have information and picture to show in order to raise the funding, they told me that is NOT HOW BUSINESS IS DONE. Seeing a prospective property before putting $3 million is escorow, is like telling someone if they want to buy a house, you have to purchase it before you can see the inside,what state the house and property is in or any documentation by building inspectors and other paperwork that is normally offered by a seller interested in selling. Sure you have heard stories of people who buy properties sight unseen, but that is unusual rather than the norm. Clearly they would be interesting in selling if someone walked in with $3 million. I got the feeling even if did show up with a $3 million cashiers check, they would demand it be paid in cash. Mind you also, they claimed they had yet to make any changes to the property but already almost doubled the price. I know the real estate market has even quadrupled in some areas of the last 5 years. But any attempt to buy, when they claimed they would want to sell, seemed like it would be a deal with the devil.
As an MBA can assure you, THAT IS NOT HOW ONE DOES BUSINESS even if the new owners said so or otherwise. I also doubt, this real estate company would have bought the Commodore understand same circumstances.
But the bottom line once again, unless the architect’s name is known, not just the firm, the Commodore cannot be saved by historical landmark status as the last of many vaudville houses in Williamsburg and we all must remember, owners can do whatever they want with their OWN property.
So Ligg, have you given up on your quest to open a theater in Williamsburg because of the rumored multiplex? After some research, I was very surprised that there are no theaters in the area, and was thinking of rectifying that situation.
I did notice that the marquee was lit last week. I couldn’t tell for what reason since I was on the J train.
I do not know. The last I heard was it was going to become a Yeshiva. The owners seem to be these sleazy hasidim. I talked to them about buying it, and said I was going to get investors together and they told me they would sell for 3million, even though they bought for just 1.5 million a few months before, and would not let me see the interior unless I had check made out to them for $3 million as “good faith” However, there good faith issue was not mutual becuse I could not raise money without seeing the interior and get structual and other reports etc. So they said then the were not interested. If someone else once to try to make deal with them. Be my guest, but I am an MBA, so I am pretty good at knowing what is needed and what is usually required in a deal like this. The good faither “Check” is favor unusual and to tell you the truth in bad faith and bad taste especailly since they wanted me to get them in a weeks time.