Bed Stuy's Slave Theater Still Looking for a Buyer
The historic Slave Theater at Fulton Street and Bedford Avenue has been empty since 1999, when it was a Regal movie theater. It was on the market in March 2009 for $2,950,000, at which time Curbed reported the building had “received several offers north of 2 million” but the owners were holding out for someone…
The historic Slave Theater at Fulton Street and Bedford Avenue has been empty since 1999, when it was a Regal movie theater. It was on the market in March 2009 for $2,950,000, at which time Curbed reported the building had “received several offers north of 2 million” but the owners were holding out for someone who’d preserve it as a theater. It apparently didn’t sell because it has been re-listed by Massey Knakal Realty for the same price of $2,950,000. There is the option to buy the theater separately or with its sister theater The Slave Theater II on Nostrand. After all this wait, we hope they can find a buyer with the money and time for a careful restoration.
Listing for 1215-17 Fulton Street [Massey Knakal Realty]
Bed Stuy Theater Seeks Savior [Curbed]
Slave Theater Hits the Market [Brownstoner]
Slave Theater in Court, Preservation Effort Weak [Brownstoner] GMAP
@ohheythere
From the Times:
‘The first theater was the century-old Regent Theater at 1215 Fulton Street. [Owner, Judge John Phillips,] renamed it the Slave No. 1 Theater “so that no one would ever forget our struggles,†he said recently, “or what we, as black people, have gone through.†‘
The judge’s attempt to encourage community pride. Except that, when you see that awning, it has the opposite effect.
I hate walking past that building.
Hopefully, whoever buys the thing will muster up the courage to change the damn name.
Just wondering, what’s with the name, Slave Theater?
And let’s not hold the Pavilion up as an example of anything but a monumentally wasted opportunity. The place could be run better by a pack of gibbons.