All Stars Project to build facility at 543 West 42nd St

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 1, 2003

In a deal brokered by Helmsley-Spear, the All Stars Project, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that uses the performing arts to promote human development and growth, announced the purchase of a 31,000-SF property at 543 West 42nd St., for $7.75 million. The 2-story (street and basement level) facility, which currently houses theatre television and music video rehearsal and production space, features 150 feet of commercial frontage, the largest such parcel of undeveloped frontage on 42 Street.

The All Stars Project -- producers of the All Stars Talent Show Network (a supplemental education program benefiting tens of thousands of young people from New York's inner city communities); the Joseph A. Forgione Development School for Youth (a leadership training program for urban youth) and the Castillo Theatre (an off-off Broadway theatre) -- intends to develop the property into a community performing arts center.

Plans call for seven mixed-use learning, rehearsal and performance spaces totaling 6,500 SF; two black-box theatres (99 and 110 seats) totaling 9,000 SF; plus offices, common areas, scenic and costume shops and volunteer areas totaling 15,500 SF. It is estimated that the facility, which will cost $11.5 million to complete, will be open in the fall of 2003.

"All over the city -- from off-off Broadway to Brooklyn and the Bronx -- young people (and not so young people) are creating theater," said All Stars Project president, Gabrielle L. Kurlander. "We are very excited to be creating a showcase, right at the heart of 42 Street, for some of our communities' best productions. We hope that our new performance center will be a dynamic, creative bridge between our city's neighborhoods and the Great White Way."

The $11.5 million center will be financed by $8.25 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) on the All Stars Project's behalf, authorized in June of 2002 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In the last decade, the two-floor property, located at the bottom of a six-story apartment building, has been the site of the Actors Studio Free Theater and Raw Space. From the 1920's though the early 1960's, it was the Armory of the 77th "Statue of Liberty" Division of the U.S. Army Reserve.

"We're so gratified that in these difficult and uncertain financial times, so many New Yorkers have stepped forward and given generously to the All Stars Project and supported our move to 42 Street," said All Stars Project board member and campaign chair, Ronald J. Lissak.