The former Metro theater on Broadway at 99th Street is set to be turned into a five-screen arthouse theater thanks to grants from the city and state of New York and private donors including the Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg Hearthland Foundation, the Klingenstein-Martell Foundation and the Brandt Jackson Foundation.

The Upper West Side Cinema Center, a newly formed nonprofit, completed the $6.9 million purchase of the building, said president and co-founder, producer Ira Deutchman. He launched the center with Adeline Monzier to bring “art cinema back to the Upper West Side, which has become a cinema desert since the demise of the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.” The yet-to-be-named arthouse will feature movie classics, foreign films, documentaries, and first-run independent films. The plan also includes an education center and a café and lounge open to the street.

“The outpouring of support for this project has been astounding, considering it was a huge...