Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban signaled he is about to take a hard look at Reading International, the international theater owner that is embroiled in a family dispute.
Cuban, who also stars on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” is an investor with Todd Wagner in Wagner/Cuban and owns Landmark Cinemas — Reading rivals — including Sunshine Cinema on Houston Street.
Cuban’s stake in Reading is no longer a passive investment, according to a 13D form he filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investors who plan to be “active,” or press for changes at a company, file a 13D, while so-called passive investors like mutual funds use another form, known as a 13G.
Cuban holds 207,611 Class B voting shares, or 13.1 percent, of Reading’s outstanding voting stock, which he earlier purchased for $1,042,450. He also owns 72,164 shares of the Class A nonvoting shares.
His voting power is second only to that held by the estate and trusts of the late James Cotter Sr.
Cotter died in September 2014 after his youngest child, James Jr., was installed as CEO. Since then, James Jr. has been ousted by a portion of the board at the behest of his two older sisters.
Locally, Reading has approved plans to redevelop its Union Square Theater at Tammany Hall, and has other plans in the works to redevelop Cinema 1, 2 & 3 along Third Avenue opposite Bloomingdale’s.
In New York, Reading also owns the Angelika Film Center, the Minetta Lane Theatre and the Orpheum Theater.
In April, a New York judge allowed the off-Broadway show “Stomp” to break its lease at the Orpheum — where it had played for 21 years — due to lack of repairs, although the judge noted that, under its license, it could be subject to fines.
James Jr. blamed the outcome on his older sister Margaret’s mismanagement of the theaters. But Margaret and another sister, Ellen, banded together and got the board to remove Cotter Jr. Ellen was appointed interim CEO.
James Jr. is fighting back and has filed other lawsuits against the company.
The company did not return a call for comment.
On its earnings conference call on Tuesday, Vornado Realty Trust honcho Steve Roth confirmed and expanded on what I had reported in April. Swatch, he said, signed two 15-year deals for the St. Regis retail space and will install Harry Winston in one.
That will put into play the current Harry Winston location, its previously owned 718 Fifth Ave. townhouse. The Winston family still owns a stake, as does the Paramount Group, which also owns the adjacent 712 Fifth Ave. office tower. Documents show certain put-to- purchase options that can be exercised in the next few years. Paramount did not return calls for comment.
Meanwhile, Roth was effusive about the city market. Noting that Vornado is among the few that could manage 1-million-squarefoot towers, Roth bragged, “Rookies need not apply.”
In Times Square, Roth said they are in “active” discussions with tenants for the remaining two stores and retail signage at 1535 Broadway.
“Retail rents have gotten to be really high, and the number of tenants cruising and looking for space at these high, in-cycle rents are starting to decline. We are recognizing that and starting to make deals,” Roth observed. But he also emphasized that every deal his firm makes has a higher market rent.
There are also “all kinds of conversations going on” about the Hotel Pennsylvania in relation to both office and hotel possibilities. “It will be well worth the wait,” Roth promised.
As to buying more properties, Roth said, “We are always hunting, always looking and tasting. But elephant hunting in the market is hard because prices are really high.” Amen.
