ITHACA, N.Y. — Downtown Ithaca’s primary movie haven, Cinemapolis, will remain in its current location for the foreseeable future. Theater leadership worked out a deal earlier this month to take control of the space the independent, non-profit movie theater has occupied on Green Street for over 15 years.
Cinemapolis Executive Director Kate Donohue said the theater negotiated the $900,000 transaction with its landlord, Cayuga Green. While the non-profit does not have traditional ownership of the theater space, it now has “long-term control,” Donohue said. Cinemapolis will still owe a small monthly rent to the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency as part of the building’s ownership structure.
The sale and mortgage of the building results in a lighter monthly financial burden and will allow the theater to promote certain staff members and dedicate more funding to its core purposes. Donohue said the theater will be better poised to maintain long-standing relationships in the community and keep costs lower, both for the public and for the theater itself.
“This helps make us a much more sustainable organization, and instead of spending money on covering occupancy costs, we can invest more in our mission,” she said. “The cost of everything is going up, but this helps us keep ticket prices affordable. It helps us invest in staffing. It helps us be a good partner to local organizations and to independent filmmakers, all of the stuff we value.”
Donohue said those kinds of partnerships and community events are important to the mission of Cinemapolis.
An impending rent increase necessitated the decision, Donohue said. Starting in July, the theater’s rent would have risen by 21%, according to its lease. The cost for the theater would be infeasible, Donohue said, so they contacted officials from Cayuga Green, who were receptive to the idea of Cinemapolis taking over the space.
Donohue said the theater received $100,000 in grant money from the Tompkins County Tourism Program and a low-interest loan from the Park Foundation, which went towards a down payment on its mortgage with Tompkins Community Bank.
In the deal, Cinemapolis agreed to undertake a costly HVAC replacement that Cayuga Green would have been on the hook to fix under the previous lease, which Donohue said reduced the sale price.
Founded in 1986, Cinemapolis has become a nexus of the local cinema scene, particularly since the theater moved to its current location on Green Street in 2009. The space itself is unique for a community movie theater. The building holds five theaters of varying size, Donohue said, making it one of the largest independent theaters in the country.
The last few years have not been kind to the in-person theater experience and for Cinemapolis specifically, Donohue said. COVID-19 decimated in-person experiences of all kinds, and the path back to pre-COVID heights has been uneven.
Cinemapolis has also endured years of construction from neighbors on two different sides as well as from above its location with the redevelopment of the Green Street Garage, the accompanying conference center and Asteri Ithaca and Ithacan apartment buildings.
The additional apartments have also introduced more residents directly adjacent to the theater’s entrance, something else the theater has had to navigate since the apartment buildings opened, most recently with Asteri over the summer.
Despite those challenges, Donohue said the theater’s location and the community built in that spot are central to its existence. The new control of the space sustains Cinemapolis’ intention to remain in the location long-term.
“Being in downtown Ithaca is so much a part of our identity,” Donohue said. “It felt really important to myself, to the board, that we continue our presence here. This is our home, and aside from any kind of construction or any changes in landscape, it’s part of our value to the community.”
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