AMC Kips Bay 15 will close at the end of 2026 after the owner of the retail complex at 570 Second Avenue exercised a contractual right to end the cinema’s lease early. The closure follows NYU Langone Health’s purchase of the property, which also houses a Fairway supermarket, though the health system has not publicly set out plans for the site.
Assembly Member Keith Powers announced the purchase of the Kips Bay theatre on 27 August. NYU Langone said the transaction had yet to close. “The purchase remains under contract and is not expected to close until early next year,” the health system said.
AMC and the landlord entered into a lease years before NYU Langone was approached about the property. The agreement gave either party the right to terminate it at any time. The property owner has now exercised that right, and no formal closing date for the theatre has been announced beyond the end of 2026.
The cinema opened in 1999 under the Loews banner and has 15 screens. It is the chain’s second-largest multiplex in Manhattan and currently the only AMC location with an IMAX screen on Manhattan’s East Side. Its closure would remove an East Side IMAX cinema and a neighbourhood gathering space that has served Kips Bay and surrounding communities since it opened.
Residents and elected officials gathered in Kips Bay on Sunday to rally against the potential closure. Demonstrators chanted “Save our theater!” at an event organised by the Eleanor Roosevelt Independent Democrats. More than 3,200 people have signed a petition calling for the theatre to be saved.
The Save Kips Bay Coalition, a group of neighbourhood organisations, block associations and tenant organisations, sent a letter on 31 August raising concerns about the possible loss of businesses used by residents and hospital employees. The coalition’s concerns extend to the Fairway supermarket, whose future at the complex has not been disclosed.
Powers and six other elected officials also wrote jointly to NYU Langone, seeking a meeting and calling for greater transparency. The signatories were Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Assembly Member Micah Lasher, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Council Members Virginia Maloney and Harvey Epstein. NYU Langone has not responded to their letter or provided details of its plans for the theatre.
Powers described the matter as “the single biggest issue that I have been engaged on in my time both in the City Council and [state] assembly.” Manhattan Community Board 6 held a public hearing on the planned AMC closure on 9 September at 7 p.m.
NYU Langone has described the site’s location near its hospital as the reason for its interest. “When the owner of the Second Avenue property approached us most recently regarding a potential sale, we recognized that the site's proximity to our hospital could help support those long-term community health care needs,” the health system said.
The health system has disclosed no specific use for the property. A 2024 leasing brochure marketed the complex for potential medical use. Community Board 6 has said a conversion to medical use would require rezoning and public review, although no rezoning application has been publicly identified. It remains unknown whether NYU Langone intends to redevelop the site, preserve any part of the theatre or supermarket, or seek a zoning change.
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