High-end movie theaters in talks over 28 Liberty Street cineplex

All the cinephile bankers and stock brokers itching to see The Big Short closer to the office will soon have a wealth of options.

iPic Entertainment is bringing an eight-screen complex to Howard Hughes Corp.’s $1.7 billion makeover of the South Street Seaport, set to open this fall.

And at least three major cinema operators are negotiating with Fosun International to set up a 50,000-square-foot, multi-theater complex at the base of the former One Chase Manhattan Plaza at 28 Liberty Street. Like iPic, the complex will offer plush seats and in-theater food and drink options.

Three major cinema operators are in “advanced negotiations” with Fosun over the space, according to the New York Post – Mexico City-based Cinemex, which is launching its first U.S. theater in Miami this year; Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theaters, which owns the Sunshine Cinema in the Bowery; and Texas-based Cinemark, the third-largest U.S. movie theater chain.

The cinema at 28 Liberty Street would take up a quarter of the 200,000 square feet of retail space at the 60-story building’s base, which Fosun is renovating into a retail plaza complete with glass storefronts. The retail space is priced in the $100 per square foot range, according to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Jeffrey Roseman.

iPic recently commenced build-out work at its eight-screen cinema at the Fulton Market Building, which is part of Hughes Hughes Corp.’s $1.7 billion transformation of the South Street Seaport. [NYP] – Rey Mashayekhi