Historic Studio 54 theater prepares for $100M renovation

Plans for a major renovation of the historic Studio 54 theater moved forward on Monday. The City Planning Commission certified Roundabout Theatre Company’s application for a special permit to generate bonus floor area to enable a $100 million rehabilitation of the Manhattan theater, which has never received a comprehensive renovation in its 99-year lifetime. Since there are no sites on or around their lot available for development, the theater seeks a text amendment to allow it to transfer its bonus development rights offsite, which would fund the renovation project. Roundabout Theatre, which has owned the property since 2003, has planned a complete overhaul of the iconic venue by David Rockwell and Ennead, raising funds through their Next Stage Campaign.

The theater, located at 254 West 54th Street, was built in 1927 as an opera house. In the 1950s, CBS bought the building and taped many TV shows, including “The Jack Benny Show” and “Password.” In 1977, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell purchased the site and turned the theater into the iconic nightclub Studio 54, which became a popular hangout for A-list celebrities, designers, and artists of the era, with regulars like Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, and many more.

After financial issues, the club closed in the 1980s and sat vacant until the 1990s. The Broadway musical “Cabaret” relocated to the theater in 1998, marking the return of “legitimate theater use,” as the applicant describes, to the site.

While the interior has undergone renovations to accommodate different uses over time, the building requires a complete rehabilitation to bring it up to modern standards and accessibility requirements.

There are several issues the renovation would address, including the lack of a proper and permanent theater stage. Currently, the orchestra seating area and the stage are at the same level, which requires temporary elevated stages to be constructed for every production. This means there is no orchestra pit or stage trap. Plus, audience sightlines are impacted.

The current space also lacks backstage and back-of-house support and a compact front-of-house configuration, leading to overcrowding around the main bar and bathrooms. Balcony-level seats are extremely steep, and there’s a lack of accessibility for guests with impaired mobility or disabilities.

The project calls for demolishing the orchestra-level seating and rebuilding it to be sloped and better for audience sightlines, as well as providing ADA seating. The new orchestra level will provide an additional 53 seats and 10 accessible seats, for a total of 556 seats.

The orchestra pit would also be restored. Front-of-house improvements include relocating a bar and retail area, expanding the lobby, making spaces more accessible, upgrading bathrooms, and adding a new elevator that serves all floors. The back-of-stage support spaces would also be improved and expanded.

The theater sits within the Theater Subdistrict of the Special Midtown District, which was established in the 1980s. In 1998, a special zoning text for the theater subdistrict was created to incentivize preservation and maintenance of a group of 46 theaters via a transfer of development rights and a floor area bonus special permit for theater rehabilitations.

But because the previous owner used all excess as-of-right development rights from the theater in the construction of a residential building before the transfer mechanism was created in 1998, there are no more development rights to transfer.

As a result, Roundabout is seeking new air rights for the building and a text amendment to allow the transfer of bonus development rights to apply to the entire Theater District. As the application was certified at Monday’s meeting, the request will move forward in the ULURP process.

According to the New York Times, Roundabout has raised $45 million for the project and is seeking $30 million from the city, as well as funding from New York State.

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