In April 1929, Warner Bros. leased the lots at 217 to 233 West 51st Street and 234 West 52nd Street at an annual rate of $40,000. The lease was to run for 17 years, with options for two 21-year extensions. Warner Bros. immediately started planning a movie palace on the site. The company planned to build an entrance from Broadway, on the eastern end of the block. The theater was to have 1,600 seats on an orchestra and a balcony level, and it would be the first Broadway theater built specifically for films. Warner Bros. had chosen this site specifically because it was close to the established Theater District around Times Square. That area, by the 1920s, was starting to see the development of movie theaters alongside legitimate venues.
