Is Jujamcyn Selling Its Theatres to ATG?

Rumor reported in the New York Post:

"Broadway’s moving. At least its theaters are. Rumor around that Jujamcyn’s St. James, Walter Kerr, August Wilson, Eugene O’Neill playing award winners 'Moulin Rouge,' 'Book of Mormon,' 'Hadestown' being sold to the Ambassador Theatre Group, which owns the Lyric ('Harry Potter’s' there) and Hudson, which had 'Death of a Salesman.'

Something like $800 million changed hands — or stages."

https://nypost.com/2023/01/17/gorgeous-gina-lollobrigida-leaves-behind-a-lasting-legacy/

Iiiiiinteresting. If there's validity to this, we should learn more soon...though it is Cindy Adams, so should be taken with a grain of salt.

Being a landlord can be a tough gig –– even with hits as Jujamcyn has had –– and Jordan may feel that he prefers to be in a creative producing atmosphere as he approaches age 50. Or, it may mean that Jujamcyn has had losses substantial enough that Jordan and his father (Steve Roth, age 82, who put up the money for Jordan to buy 50% in 2009, and then the majority of shares in 2013) wants to shore up finances.

I'm kind of surprised Vornado (Steve Roth's real estate company) has never folded Jujamcyn into its existing portfolio, which might have cut down on some expenses related to staffing, operations, and HR, and offers a bit of a cushion for the theatrical side.

ATG is a good manager of theatres and obviously could benefit from this acquisition. If this happens, I'd love to see big facelifts for the August Wilson and St. James. Get rid of those pumpkin spice-colored plaster walls, please, and give us some Broadway glamor!!! And fix the Hirschfeld bathroom situation once MOULIN exits :)

>If this happens, I'd love to see big facelifts for the August Wilson and St. James.<

Just noting that the August Wilson HAS been restored. At some point, the original interior was stripped to the walls and for much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was a dreary blackbox, with no ornamentation or character whatsoever. Francesca Russo, who has restored many of the Shubert and Jujamcyn theatres, did a recreation of the theatre's original Italian palazzo motif. The one thing it is missing from the original design were very large gobelin tapestries that hung on the sides of the interior (and prompted an opening night critic to remark, "the gobelins will get you if you don't watch out." You might not dig it, but it's a semblance of the theatre's original 1925 design.

Here is what the original interior looked like:

And info from Francesca Russo's website about the restoration:

Francesca Russo - August Wilson Theatre

everythingtaboo said: "Damn, the lack of basic grammar in her column. Can Rupert Murdoch afford a Grammarly subscription?

Please, the woman is barely continent -- and you expect her to have good grammar?

I understand the need for light bars in the auditoriums of theaters but they're ugly. You would think that the enormosly creative minds on Broadway, they'd find ways to mask them. The Metropolitan Opera has done so.

So rude.

Cindy was one of the first women ever in The New York Post newsroom.

She has broke hundreds of cover stories and exclusives over her many years.

Shame on you.

I thought it was pretty clear that this had not been finalized yet, even though she said money had "changed hands." If you could easily search online and find that ATG was the new owner, it wouldn't be a rumor.

A few things.

1. As with buy a house, but multiplied many, many times over, real estate transactions do not happen on a dime. There are inspections, there are document reviews, there is due diligence, and on and on.

2. Poor Cindy rarely knew very much about what she was talking about when she was in her heyday. No reason to think that has changed. Money changing hands may just be sloppy, or it may be that money passed from the buyer to an escrow agent. That this never occurred to some is mind-boggling.

3. I think it is possible that Jordan is tired of the day in, day out aspect of running a theatre business. He may be ready to spend more time as a socialite and fashionista. He may also prefer producing to landlording. He will not have a problem getting theatres for what he wants to produce.

4. I don't think having Vornado take title to the property is a part of the game plan, which is a probably very artful estate planning technique.

5. I don't think this is about other landlords.

Confirmed in the New York Times this morning. BWW Story below. I'm sure more details will come in the coming time.

BWW Story

If I had to GUESS:

1) Jujamcyn creative dept (Nicole Kastrinos) would transfer to the new entity since Jordan will be the Creative Director. That could mean farewell to Kristin Caskey at ATG, or maybe they find a new role for her.

2) A big consolidation of management, accounting, operations, HR, etc. with perhaps some Jujamcyn folks being laid off. But they might not be getting rid of THAT many people for now, since 5 theaters is a lot.

This is a vague announcement and I hope we’ll know more soon. Such as name, timeline, etc.

This site lists ATG’s 30-person US staff. Fairly robust, with more support & leadership coming from the UK —

https://www.lyricbroadway.com/about-us/our-team

Jujamcyn’s team is approx 45 people (excluding those who work for the individual theatres) —

https://www.jujamcyn.com/about-us/

Det95 said: "The selling of soft pretzels in parchment paper specifically comes to mind."

They should drop the parchment and just hand it out in a napkin. That would be basically a maximally quiet snack, for those who can't go two or three hours without eating something. (Which admittedly is me at home, but not in a theater!)

Robbie2 said: "Jordan is simply tired and no longer has the desire of runing theatres under Jujamcyn is what I hear. Jujamcyn theatres will be become ATG. He'll probably just be a creative advisor and producer allowing him to sleep till noon so he can lead his priviledged life as a socialite - fashionista. He's not cut out for running Jujamcyn now in his life."

I don't think anyone questions this –– and who can blame him? Being a landlord can be a bum gig when the economics are as shaky as Broadway, especially after the tumultuous past few years. I bet he'll be thrilled to relinquish the day to day running, and focus on the creative & producing elements (and being the resident fashionisto, and being dad to a 6-year-old).