Site of Bed Stuy's Former Slave Theater Back on Market for $37.95 Million

The site of the former iconic Slave Theater in Bed Stuy is once again back on the market.

A new rendering, part of a zoning and use study by Morris Adjmi Architects, shows two buildings towering over the block. One is massive, and together they appear to take up about a third of the block.

Much of the development would be located in the interior of the block, according to the study. The site comprises three lots, located at 1215 Fulton Street, 10 Halsey Street, and 16 Halsey Street in Bed Stuy. The three lots, which form a T-shape, face both Fulton and Halsey streets, with a significant portion located in the donut-hole of the block.

New York Yimby was the first to report the rendering.

In July, Real Estate Weekly reported that Cushman & Wakefield, the brokers for the site, are asking $37.95 million for the entire site.

The rendering shows an 11-story building on the Fulton Street lot, with the top six stories glass. The massive eight- or nine-story building planned for the donut hole, which straddles almost a third of the block, appears to be all glass. The rendering does not show what is possibly planned for the lot that faces Halsey Street.

These buildings, if anywhere near the size of what is shown in the renderings, will dwarf the surrounding buildings, most of which are no more than four stories high.

It should be noted that no application for new-building permits have been filed as of this writing, despite developer Industrie Capital Partners stating on their website they plan to develop a 200,000 square foot project with retail, office and residential on the site.

Many in the community hoped the iconic theater could be saved. Developer Yosef Ariel, who purchased the three lots in 2012, sold them to developer Eli Hemway of Industrie Capital Partners for $18.5 million in 2015.

After filing demolition permits at the end of 2015, a former caretaker for the Slave Theater, who claimed to be its rightful owner, climbed atop the theater’s marquee and threatened to jump if the theater wasn’t saved.

The Slave Theater, once a unique hub of Afrocentrism in Bed Stuy, was eventually demolished in 2017. If proposed changes of use on the site require a rezoning, it will have to go through the ULURP process, starting with Community Board 3 and requiring final approval from the City Council.

Related Stories

• Slave Theater Demolished as Bed Stuy Icon Makes Way for Mixed-Use Development
• Black Pride, Kung Fu and Social Justice: The Life and Times of Bed Stuy’s Slave Theater
• Man Protests Slave Theater Demo by Threatening to Jump From Top of Marquee

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