Greenport's Village Cinema On Market For Sale Or Long-Term Lease

GREENPORT, NY — With many movie theaters on the East End seeing second acts, the Village Cinema in Greenport is also ready for its next scene: The property has been offered for sale or long-term lease.

Meanwhile, a longtime ally of the theater is working tirelessly behind the scenes to preserve the space.

The property, located at 211 Front Street and listed with John Catrambone of Dering Harbor Real Estate at an as-yet undisclosed price, was built in 1939 by Prudential Theaters and designed by renowned theater architect John Eberson to replace an earlier theater destroyed by the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, representatives for the listing agent said.

The theater was multiplexed 70 years later, and restored by current owner Josh Sapan, CEO of AMC Networks, who purchased the property as a project of the heart in 2004, restoring the theater to its earlier glory in a renovation that celebrated its 1939 design.

A classic 23-foot neon sign was designed and installed on the façade. Interior renovations included new seating, a custom ticket booth, a cafe and space for regularly scheduled art exhibitions.

The four theaters have a total of 632 seats. In addition to screening films, the venue is used for live concerts, cultural events, and various film and television festivals, including the Manhattan Film Institute's annual showing of student films and, in recent years, a free winter film series that brought the community out in force to share the magic of cinema in a shared space. Artwork from local students has also been displayed outside the theater in panels during the off season in recent years.

An effort is underway to preserve the theater by Tony Spiridakis, co-founder with Lisa Gillooly of MFI. Spiridakis spearheaded the effort to bring the free winter movie series to the cinema for two winters after paying to fix the heat.

The Greenport theater has just undergone an interior refresh after being closed as a result of COVID, and is fully ready for film exhibition and other events, a representative for Catrambone said.

The theater resonated with Sapan, who, in a past interview, shed light and hope on the future for those who savor the experience of the cinema.

"There is magic at the movies," Sapan said. "Home screens are wonderful but nothing can replace the 'Cinema Paradiso' of sitting in a dark theater with people of one's community."

Since purchasing the space in 2004, the theater was renovated completely, with the Greenport sign on the front originally designed and fabricated, and the metal facing and ticket booth designed.

Sapan said his brother-in-law and his husband, of Foley Fiore Architecture in Cambridge, MA, have expertise in historic preservation.

"It was a great to do it with them," he said.

In addition, Sapan added, "We renovated the bathrooms — and were able to save the beloved maroon urinals in the men's room. Now that's an achievement!"

All four theaters and seats, he said, were refurbished, with an attempt to keep the original architecture and design intact. In addition, the theater was converted to digital, with digital projectors installed and purchased, Sapan said.

From the first, the Village Cinema, with its walls echoing of days gone by, spoke to Sapan.

"Since I was a kid, I have loved movies and movie theatres," Sapan said. "The movie 'Cinema Paradiso' made an big impression on me, as it was an homage to movies and movie exhibition. Growing up, I paid $3 to watch four movies in a row in a beat up Times Square theater. The movies were billed as 'Spend a Day with Clint Eastwood'. They were 'spaghetti westerns', three directed by Sergio Leone, with music by the great composer Ennio Morricone. It was a rare nine hours that crystallized my love of sitting in a dark theater in front of a big screen."

During college, Sapan ran film societies and after graduation, he set up a "mobile touring movie exhibition business."

Ever creative, Sapan's business model meant packing 16 mm projectors in the back of his Nash Rambler station wagon and taking his theater on the road, renting exhibition halls where he showed foreign films such as 'The Bicycle Thief' by Vittorio De Sica,' 'Last Year Marienbad " by Alain Resnais and American classics such as 'The Man who Shot Liberty Valance' by John Ford and 'Touch of Evil' by Orson Welles.

That deeply ingrained love of film explained why he followed his heart and purchased the Village Cinema as a personal project, he said.

"I found the opportunity to continue that in a permanent home in Greenport irresistible, as the theateris historic and Greenport such a wonderful place," he said. "I wanted to see the Greenport Theater survive so Greenport had a theater. As so many historic theaters are disappearing I thought the theater should not be torn down, but should be preserved and alive and vital," he said.

Speaking to Patch about the sale, Sapan said: "For 17 years it’s been the realization of a dream to be the shepherd of the Greenport Theater. Showing indie and mainstream features, hosting film and TV festivals and having art shows and a cafe in such an architectural gem has been a once-in-a -lifetime experience."

He added: "It seems the right time to put this town treasure into the hands of someone who can bring it to its next chapter, continuing the best of what was done and particularly making greater use of the stage for live events."