Albert Bialek, the owner of the Metro Theater on the east side of Broadway between 99th and 100th Streets is in discussions to convert the low-rise building into a new home for Wingspan Arts, a 10-year-old nonprofit group that provides arts education for about 6,000 students in the New York City region, according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Julie Satow.

Since its construction in 1933, the article said, the Metro Theater "has had a turbulent history. Among its numerous iterations: a pornography house, an art-house movie theater and home to two national cinema chains. The Art Deco facade of the Metro has been granted landmark status but not its interior."

This year, the article continued, Mr. Bialek wrested control of the Metro after a protracted legal battle with the leaseholder, John R. Souto, whose firm filed for bankruptcy protection last year, and had had a 49-year lease with an option to buy the property, but defaulted on the terms. New York City marshals evicted him from the property in January, the article said, adding that "Mr. Souto's lawyer, Claude Castro of Claude Castro & Associates, said he was appealing."

Wingspan Arts is proposing a three-floor theater and education complex at the site with construction costs estimated at as much as $25 million, said the founder and president, Gary Bernstein, the article said, adding that "costs would be partly paid by renting some of the space to live theater companies, in addition to using funds from private financing, and city, state and possibly federal grants."

Mr. Bialek and the arts group have been in talks since late March, the article continued, but no deal has been signed and "unwilling to let more time lapse - the building has been without a tenant since late 2005 - Mr. Bialek, who is also a commercial broker, is speaking with other possible tenants."

Wingspan Arts' proposal includes doubling the size of the theater by excavating below grade 30 to 35 feet, bringing the total square footage to roughly 30,000 square feet. The only way to expand the space is by going below grade, as Mr. Bialek sold the theater's air rights to Extell Development to help create the adjacent Ariel East residential tower and Ariel West across Broadway, the article said.

"You used to cross 96th street and it would be this no-man's land," said Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of the retail leasing, marketing and sales division at Prudential Douglas Elliman. "But now you are starting to see upwardly mobile couples and families, and retailers recognize there is a lot potential."

To the east, the mammoth Columbus Square development dominates the superblocks between 97th and 100th street, and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. When it is completed this summer, it will include 710 rental units, and more than 500,000 square feet of retail space, including a Whole Foods Market.

Michael Oliva, an Upper West Side resident began a campaign to turn the theater into a cultural center and held fund-raisers and started a blog to further his efforts, but failed to ever contact Mr. Bialek, the article said, adding that "an e-mail to Mr. Oliva's blog, whose last post was in February, was not returned."

A February 1, 2011 article at observer.com by Emily Geminder said that "the building sat like a small, smooth gem sunk between the high-rises, a study in jewel tones and streamlined Art Moderne geometry, the twins of tragedy and comedy depicted in a giant medallion smack at the center."

The article said that "When it was built in 1933, the Metro (then known, somewhat incongruously, as the Midtown Theater) was one of 18 movie theaters lining Broadway between 59th and 110th streets: the Circle Theater at 59th Street, the Regency at 67th Street, the Stoddard at 90th Street, the Olympia at 107th Street, to name a few. With the exception of the Metro, all have been demolished."