Sunshine Cinema Office Development Reaches Halfway Mark

The Sunshine Cinema couldn’t be further down the horizon. Especially as each steel beam is knocked into place.

Progress on the new office building at 143 East Houston Street is certainly visible now. Its skeleton recently reached the halfway mark, as it climbs to a total height of about nine stories.

As previously reported, owners East End Capital and K Property Group, who together purchased the Lower East Side theater four years ago for $31.5 million, are developing 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. There is also one multi-level retail space with 60 feet of frontage, and an alleyway called “Houston Alley” for potential restaurant seating.

Photo: East End Capital

The elegant theater building at 139-143 East Houston had been built in 1898, and became the home of the Houston Hippodrome (Yiddish Theater) and, later, the “Sunshine Cinema” nickelodeon. It was restored to a movie theater in 2001.

The last movie to play here before closure and demolition was Hostiles in January 2018.

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