The nonprofit group that operates the Roxie Theater, a 112-year-old venue known for showing arthouse and independent films in San Francisco, is on the verge of buying its Mission District building.
The Roxie entered into an agreement last year with its landlord of 45 years to purchase the 16th Street property, a sale which is expected to close in 2025.
The purchase will include the theater’s main auditorium, the smaller Little Roxie theater two doors down, and a space currently occupied by the cocktail bar Dalva.
“Nonprofits owning their own space is so critical to their sustainability. And I think we need a story of hope right now, for San Francisco, and for arts and culture,” said the Roxie’s executive director, Lex Sloan.
Sloan noted that discussions about a potential sale have been ongoing for years.
In 2022, the San Francisco Arts Commission awarded the Roxie a $50,000 grant to create and implement a fundraising campaign aimed at the purchase.
The campaign’s “silent phase” has already raised nearly $5.5 million of the Roxie’s $7 million goal, with most donations coming from large contributors, including a major gift from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.
The Roxie is now reaching out to the public to close the remaining $1.5 million gap.
While Sloan declined to disclose the purchase price for the property, she did acknowledge that it is lower than $7 million.
The higher fundraising goal intends to create a financial cushion for the future, allowing the theater to address deferred maintenance and expand its programming options.
Currently, the theater starts most screenings at 6 p.m., but Sloan mentioned that they have slowly begun adding earlier shows and are considering off-site satellite events.
In a moment of optimism, she proposed, “What if there was a rooftop cinema?”
However, the theater will not expand physically beyond its current footprint.
Sloan stated there are no plans to demolish any walls or take over the existing Dalva space; as part of the sale, the Roxie will become Dalva’s landlords.
The property is owned by the Abecassis family, whose patriarch Samuel Abecassis purchased it in 1989.
Following Samuel’s passing in 2000, the family has retained ownership and recognizes the Roxie’s significance to the neighborhood, Sloan noted.
Sloan described the Abecassis family as “incredible partners throughout the last 40 years,” highlighting that their rent was reduced by 50% when the theater was forced to close due to the COVID pandemic.
During that period, the Roxie also took the opportunity to enhance its disability access.
Over the years, the Roxie has hosted illustrious figures from the film world, including Akira Kurosawa, Barry Jenkins, and Errol Morris, as well as film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
On April 21, special guest director David Cronenberg will appear at the theater.
Despite the challenges faced by movie theaters nationwide, support for the Roxie has remained strong, according to Sloan.
“We’ve certainly seen, in the last year, audiences returning to the theater in ways that we didn’t even see before COVID.
It gives me hope, every day, when I walk out and see the line around the block for a film.”
image source from：https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974460/roxie-theater-buy-the-building-san-francisco
