CMU School of Drama


Monday, September 13, 2021

Broadway Theater Owner Floating On Air After Record-Breaking Deal

www.forbes.com: Everything’s coming up roses for the Shubert Organization. As the Broadway landlord begins to reopen its 17 Broadway theaters for the first time in 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, it will also receive more than $82.3 million from a blockbuster real estate deal.

2 comments:

Madison Gold said...

I don’t know much about real estate but this article intrigued me for various reasons. I think the concept behind air rights is so hilarious but genius at the same time. Although Broadway Theatre already makes the best money you can make in theatre, it’s always a good thing for theatre companies to have an increase in assets, especially after being closed for so long due to Covid. $51 million is a lot to spend on physically nothing. I am also shocked that air rights sale for that much. But then again, that is the new record. They must have some smart people working for them if they can have the two highest air right sales on record. I’m not sure if any of that money is going to productions but it’s good to hear that 17 of Shubert’s theaters will be opening soon. I wish that Shubert did go through with building a new theatre, that would be exciting, but I can see why other options might be smarter financially.

James Gallo said...

This article is blowing my mind. I don’t know much about how this type of stuff works, but I have never heard of selling space above a building. In doing some research, I found out that this is actually pretty common practice for NYC seeing as though there is extremely limited space available and real estate is a hot commodity. It sold for around $52 million, which seems like a ton of money for thin air, but I am just imagining the amount of money a developer could end up making on a high rise in the theatre district with apartment or office sales. It blows my mind every day to think about the money that goes into New York real estate each year. A rental one-bedroom is probably around 5-6x what I pay here in Pittsburgh. Hopefully the money from these sales that the Shubert is making will go back into the organization and result in some huge improvements and maybe some expansions on Broadway. I think the industry is going to need some large investments to get back up on its feet.