As Decreased New York Carriage Trade Looms, Are The Shuberts Betting Against The Ponies?

With over a hundred years in the theatre racket, the Shubert Organization certainly didn't get to be where they are today without using a bit of horse sense. But has the company that owns seventeen of Broadway's houses now betting against the ponies?

Jeremy Gerard of Deadline seems to think so.

The reporter notes that a recent full-page newspaper advertisement, paid for by groups supporting Mayor Bill de Blasio's efforts to eliminate or shrink the carriage trade, listed the Shubert Organization among the various groups lending support.

What could be their interest? A spokesman offered no comment when asked but the reporter recalls that the Shuberts recently paid above the asking price for a nondescript warehouse on West 48th Street, just outside the Broadway district.

As a nonprofit organization, that happens to own commercial theatres, the Shuberts are required by law to spend its profits on their charitable works, and the Shubert Foundation is the nation's largest financial supporter of nonprofit theater and dance companies.

Following the city's decision to landmark the theatre district, preventing owners from substantially changing or demolishing their theaters, the company has taken in over $50 million selling the air rights above their storied houses. $11.25 million of that has paid for the five-story H.B. Day warehouse, which just happens to be located adjacent to one of the four mid-town west stables that house the carriage-pulling horses.

Known as The Chateau, that stable has been on West 48th Street for 50 years and owner Gloria McGill has rejected numerous offers to sell. But with a significant drop in business looming, could the Broadway giant be fixing to pounce on the valuable property?

"Westward, ho!," may soon be the motto of the expanding theatre community.

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