Sunshine Cinema Office Development Hit with Stop-Work Order over Excavation

The city halted construction on the commercial office development set to replace the former Sunshine Cinema.

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Department of Buildings deployed inspectors to the project site and subsequently issued a full stop-work order due to excavation activities. Public records show that “foundation work with excavators” caused “structural cracks” in both the interior and exterior of the adjacent building at 210 Forsyth Street.

The city revisited 143 East Houston last week and granted a partial rescind in order to “safeguard [the] adjacent property.”

As previously reported, owner-developers East End Capital and K Property Group, who together purchased the Lower East Side theater two years ago for $31.5 million, are behind the nine-story construction. At a cost of about $90 million, the newcomer is to sport eight full-floor commercial units ranging in size from 5,000 to 6,800 square-feet. Each column-free office will have 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, concierge services, and private terraces. Other shared amenities include an executive conference room and roof deck. There is also one multi-level retail space with 60 feet of frontage.