Thank you for joining Reading International's earnings call to discuss our 2019 third quarter results. My name is Andre Mattyczynski. I'm the Reading's Executive Vice President of Global Operations. With me, as usual, are Ellen Cotter, our President and Chief Executive Officer and Gilbert Evanes, our newly minted Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Before we begin the substance of the call, I'll start by stating that in accordance with the Safe Harbor provision, of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, certain matters that will be addressed in this earnings call may constitute forward looking statements.
Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual performance to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. Such risk factors are clearly set out in our SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements. In addition, we will discuss non GAAP financial measures on this call. Reconciliations and definitions of non GAAP financial measures, which are segment operating income, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are included in our recently issued 2019 third quarter earnings release on the company's website.
We have adjusted EBITDA items we believe to be external to our business and not reflective of our costs of doing business or results of operation. Such costs include gains on insurance recoveries, legal expenses relating to extraordinary litigation, adjustments for gains, losses relating to property sales, and any other items that can be considered non recurring in accordance with the 2 year SEC requirement for determining an item is non recurring infrequent or unusual in nature. We believe adjusted EBITDA is an important supplemental measure of our performance. In today's call, we also use an industry accepted financial measure called filter level cash flow, TLCF, which is theater level revenue less direct theater level expenses. And also property level cash flow, PLCF, which is property level revenue less direct property level expenses.
Please note that our comments are necessarily summary in nature, and anything we say is qualified by the more detailed disclosure set forth in our Form 10Q. So with that behind this, I'll turn it over to Ellen who will review some of the business highlights from the third quarter 2019. And then Gilbert will provide a more detailed financial review. Alan?
Thanks, Andre, and thanks everyone for listening today and sending in your questions. Like we've done in the past, we've tried address many of your questions in our prepared remarks. But before we start today, we're delighted to announce the board's appointment of Gilbert Evonis as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Since joining Reading in 2007, Gilbert has played critical role in the growth of our company. His strategic financial planning and analysis expertise, coupled with his deep knowledge of our company's assets and their potential make Gilbert an ideal fit for our CFO position.
Margaret and I and the rest of the board of management team look forward continue to work with Gilbert as we capitalize on our growth opportunities ahead. You'll be hearing from Gilbert shortly for a more detailed financial review following my remarks. Now let's turn to our 3rd quarter business highlights. At $70,500,000, our consolidated revenue for the third quarter 2019 decreased 5% from the prior year's quarter, which had set an all time record high for any third quarter. In spite of this decrease, this past quarter in 2019 represented the 3rd highest of any third quarter on company record.
For consolidated revenue. A few circuits, our Australian cinema group delivered a record breaking quarter. Achieving in their functional currency, the highest total cinema revenue of any third quarter on record. And despite challenges that I'll touch on shortly, our U. S.
Total cinema revenue was the 2nd highest of any third quarter. I'll note some third quarter highlights from our Real Estate segment, which includes our Live Theater business. In Australia, our third quarter 2019 real estate revenue was the highest of any third quarter on record. In both U. S.
Dollars and Australian dollars. Our operating income represented the 2nd best third quarter since 2011. Our live theater division delivered the 2nd highest theater level cash flow of any third quarter on record. In the U. S, our 44 Union Square Tammany Hall project in New York City is nearing completion, as we finish the installation of the glass panels in the iconic dome and remove the crane, clearing the way for the storefronts to go in.
And in New Zealand, we progressed planning efforts at our Courtenay Central Development in Wellington and our industrial properties in the manachau weary areas of Auckland. Let's go into some detail about our 2 business segments. Turning first to our global cinema business. The record setting third quarter 2018 presented a very tough comp for us. The major studios released terrific movies, crazy rich Asians, mission impossible fallout, Ant Man the Wasp, Incredibles 2, and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, along with fantastic releases from U.
S. Specialty Film Distributors, Movies like 3 identical strangers, sorry to bother you in 8th grade. The strength of that content for our unique circuit meant that the third quarter of 2019 had Our third quarter 2019 consolidated cinema revenue decreased by 6% to $66,700,000. Compared to the third quarter of 2018. Our cinema segment operating income decreased by 27 percent to $6,000,000.
A few important factors impacted the global circuit results. First, As you know, we have a unique cinema circuit in the U S. 10 of our current 24 theatres rely heavily on art and specialty film product. Mostly through our Angelica brand. Art House audiences in the third quarter 2018 overwhelmingly enjoyed the previously mentioned movies, as well as won't you be my neighbor, leave no trace, and the wife?
The film lineup in the third quarter 2019 simply didn't stack up. Also, Highlighting another unique characteristic of our U. S. Circuit. Our 9 theatres in Hawaii typically represent 35% of our overall U.
S. Cinema box office. During the third quarter 2018, crazy rich Asians over performed in our consolidated theatres, in Hawaii and there was no comparable film in terms of box office during the third quarter of 2019 in Hawaii. Our US circuit lost 3 cinema locations in New York City. The leases underlying our profitable Paris theatre, Beakman Theatre and the Managed Eighty Sixth Street Theatre in New York City, all expired during the Second And Third Quarters of 2019.
Our efforts to get new occupancy arrangements to extend our time in these spaces on commercially reasonable terms were unsuccessful for us. In New Zealand, our Reading Cinemas in Wellington Historically one of the strongest performers in the New Zealand market and our circuit remained closed due to seismic concern has started in January of 2019. I'll touch on our Courtenay Central Redevelopment plans in a few minutes. But lastly, unfavorable foreign exchange rates negatively impacted the US dollar results of our Australia and New Zealand operations. We do remain optimistic about the fourth quarter of 2019.
While awaiting the release of Frozen 2 and Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker, Joker has already delivered terrific 4th quarter box office results in each of our 3 countries, and importantly, at both our commercial and art theaters in the U. S. Impressively, Joker has become the 1st star rated movie to top over 9 $50,000,000 worldwide. And despite the streaming wars raging around Already in the fourth quarter of 2019, the debut of films like Pain and Glory and the Lighthouse keep us confident in the specialty theatrical business. Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory, outpaced all specialized subtitle films released this year.
The Angelica in New York with an opening week gross of $100,000 was a standout among theater showing paint and glory. And we enjoyed a strong opening of The Lighthouse, Robert Ecker's artsy period piece shot in black and white photography starring Robert Pattinson and William Defoe. At the Angelica in New York, the opening week gross for the Lighthouse was 120 $1000. Even though the ebbs and flows of the movie quality negatively impacted us this quarter, We continue to solidly execute on key strategic initiatives. More specifically, in third quarter of 2019, We achieved record high food and beverage per caps in all three circuits.
Also, we broke records in the sale of our online tickets from our own website and apps. Let me go into some market detail, starting with the US. Due to a 14% attendance decline, our US Cinema revenue decreased 8% to $36,800,000. Which ultimately resulted in an 81% decrease in our US cinema operating income. Our U.
S. Box office revenue for the third quarter of 2019 was down 12%. While the US industry box office for the period increased by almost 3% to $2,400,000,000. As previously noted, this was largely due to our unique concentrations in both Art Houses And Theatres in Hawaii. Our US Circuit Specialty Theaters box office revenue declined by 24% while the overall exhibition industry stayed positive.
The weaker slate of specialty films released in the third quarter of 2019 hurt not only Reading. We saw dramatic declines in the third quarter 2019 box office of other circuits who predominantly rely on specialty film. Even with the lower attendance in the U. S, our increased F and B per caps for the third quarter 2019 resulted in F and B revenue of $11,600,000, matching our results for the third quarter of 2018. Our strategic focus on FNB continue to cross our US circuit and help deliver another record FNB per cap at $5.57.
Which represents not only the highest for any third quarter at Reading in the US, but also outperformed the FMB per caps of the US divisions of 2 to top publicly traded exhibitors. Our strategic capital investments help propel our continued strong F and B performance. With the completion of our top to bottom renovation, our consolidated theatres in Mililani on Oahu and Hawaii now features 14 screens of recliner seating and a TITAN Luxe screen, a full F and B upgrade, including the sale of beer, wine and spirits, and a lobby redesign. The third quarter 2019 marked the 1st full operational quarter of the FMB upgrade at our consolidated theater in Mililani. Our fully renovated Reading Cinema in Murrieta, California, which features Spotlight our first dining concept achieved the highest of any third quarter overall F and B per cap.
Also, the third quarter 2019 theater level cash flow of this Reading Cinemas set a record for any third quarter. Another key operational focus has been on the development of our self ticketing capabilities through our websites, apps and social media platforms to generate revenue and income. Our team continues to improve our websites and apps by adding enhanced functionality to drive our guests to this experience in keeping them coming back. The third quarter of 2019 represented the highest third quarter on record for online ticket sales. 3rd quarter ticket sales from our own platforms increased 9% from the previous third quarter record.
During the third quarter of 2019, we also launched a Titan XT screen with Dolby Atmos at our Reading Cinemas in Roanor Park, California with reserve seating. In addition, at this theatre, we recently launched a value program, Sanauma's County Sonoma County's best movie value, where we offer an $8.50 ticket, $10 Titan tickets, $6 endless popcorn and other family concession discounts. Now turning to Australia. Our total revenues increased by 3 at $35,100,000, our Australian cinema circuit experienced its highest ever third quarter box office revenue. During third quarter of 2019.
Although our operating income in our Australian cinemas remained relatively flat, when adjusted for the adverse foreign exchange impacts the bottom line performance increased by 4% quarter over quarter. On a functional currency quarter of 2018. We're also pleased to report that at $5, our FNB per cap or spend per head in functional currency for Australian Circuit is the highest on record. Throughout the quarter, we continued to enhance our Reading Cinemas in Australia. At Westlakes in South Australia, We converted two screens to Titan Luxe and added a gold lounge screen each with recliner seating.
In Harbour Town in Queensland, we converted two screens to TITAN Luxe with recliner seating. This Reading Cinemas also features 4 gold lounge auditoriums, upgraded F and B offerings, and a lounge and bar area for all our guests. To date, 62% of our Australian Reading Cinemas feature select auditoriums with recliner seating. And 9 of our 21 locations include at least one TITAN Luxe screen. As of today, our announced new cinema pipeline is primarily in Australia.
We have 5 new lease arrangements for state of the art cinemas, which we anticipate will be coming online sometime through the end of 2021, between now and the end of 2021. And we're actively investigating other cinema acquisition opportunities or new builds in this market. We're on schedule to open our Reading Cinemas in Burwood, Melbourne, in time for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December of 2019. This 6 screen cinema will be the 1st all reclining cinema we have in Melbourne and will feature a TITAN Luxe at an elevated FNB program. In addition to the Reading Cinemas in Burwood, we have leases in place for an additional 25 new screens.
At Turalgan outside of Melbourne, in Gendly, in Queensland, and South City Square in Brisbane. And in September of this year, we announced a 4th lease, a new 6 screen state of the art Reading cinema with Titan Luxe, at Miller's Junction, an exciting retail district in Western Melbourne. This new Reading Cinemas expected to open in 2020 will also feature all reclining seats and an elevated FNB program. Turning now to our New Zealand cinema circuit. Our third quarter 2019 cinema revenue declined by 18% to 5,700,000 U.
S. Dollars versus the third quarter 2018, with attendance declining by 24%. And our third quarter 2019 cinema operating income decreased by 25%. The weakened New Zealand dollar A 3% decrease versus third quarter 2018 impacted the U. S.
Dollar results for our New Zealand circuit. But most importantly, our cinema revenue was adversely impacted by the temporary but ongoing closure since January of 2019 of our Reading Cinema at Courtney Central in Wellington due to seismic concerns. As I'll touch on in a few minutes, during the third quarter, we can need to work through our redevelopment plans for our Reading Cinema at Courtney Central. To mitigate the temporary closure of Reading Cinemas at Courtenay Central, we leased a 3 screen cinema space in Lower Hut, adjacent to Wellington. This cinema now trading as the hot the hot pop up by Reading Cinemas began operations in late June 2019.
While this cinema will help service the Wellington area with only three screens, it is not and will not make up for the temporary closure. Of our cinema at Courtney Central. Again, reflecting the strength of our global operating initiatives, at $4.58, our F and B cap F and B per cap on a functional 100%
increase in
Now, turning to our global real estate business. Real estate revenue decreased by 4% to $5,500,000. While our real estate operating income increased by 18 percent decrease in operating expenses in all three portfolios. Operating income increased quarter over quarter, despite a 45% decrease in real estate revenue for our New Zealand operations. The decrease was primarily attributable to the ongoing closure of most of the net rentable area of Courtenay Central and the weakening New Zealand foreign exchange rate.
Now let's start, with our US real estate business. As the current main contributor to our US real estate segment, our live theaters experienced an outstanding quarter in third quarter of 2019. Our live theater revenue saw an increase of 26% and our theater level cash flow increased by 74% when compared to the same period last year. Our Royal George Theater had its strongest 3rd quarter theater level cash flow on record. Open Run shows, late night Catacism and Bible Bingo have continued to show success.
Miracle turned out to be a major hit among its targeted audiences in Chicago, and we continue to believe that the 2019 year should close out strong as 2 new shows. I'm not a comedian. I'm Lenny Bruce and Holy Ghost Bingo have already been added to the show lineup. At the Menena Lane Theatre in New York City, in April 2019, we extended our license agreement with Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon through March of 2020, with an option on the part of Audible to further extend that license for an additional year through March of 2021. Audible continues to produce their 1 and 2 actor plays and special engagements at the Minetta Lane.
Which they then offer on audible.com. Moving on to our Historic Tammany Hall project at 44 Union Square in New York. Last month, we completed the iconic dome with the installation of the glass roof panels. We've removed the crane from the site, which has allowed us to begin putting up the shop fronts. Inspections are proceeding apace and we anticipate filing for our Corn shell temporary steel in the short term.
We believe this project turned out to be even more impressive than we anticipated with breathtaking views of this part of New York City. The current images of this unique addition to Union Square worth looking at on our 44 Union Square Instagram page. Prospective tenants viewing the building have been very enthusiastic and complimentary about the space. We continue to negotiate a long term lease for about 90% of the net rentable area of the building. I'll also volatility surpassed between 3.23.6000000 Square Feet.
The largest quarterly total quarter over quarter since 2014 and is up 150% year over year, dominated by companies like Google and Publicis group. Also, overall, vacancy declined 140 basis points year over year from 8.8% to 7.4% as a result. Of more development. In our project, the remaining retail space continues to be marketed for retail used by our exclusive broker at Newmark. However, as a practical matter, this remaining space cannot be leased until we complete the negotiations with the primary tenant for the building.
And we know precisely how much retail space will remain available. Turning to Australia. We're pleased to report that our Australian Real Estate segment reported its highest 3rd quarter revenue at $3,900,000. Our Australian real estate revenue increased by 2 percent to $3,900,000 despite the effects of the weakening of the Australian dollar by 6.2 percent in third quarter of 2019. On a functional currency basis, our Australian property level cash flow increased by 11% in the third quarter of 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018.
Our real estate operating income increased by 43 general and administrative expenses by 22% 36%, respectively. Our main Australian centers, New Market Village in a suburb of Brisbane, Auburn Redyard, in a suburb of Sydney, Cannon Park, in Townsville, and the Belmont Common outside of Perth showed increases in property level cash flow over the third quarter of 2018. At New Market Village, we're pleased to announce that our new FNB precinct under our Reading Cinemas is now 100% leased and fully occupied with tenants. Also, we are recently announced that a space Excuse me. Also, we recently announced that space for any time fitness, a leading gym operator in Australia, is being constructed on the second level of the original wing of the new market property.
This new tenant will have a positive impact on the foot traffic and customer patronage at the Eastern End of New Market Village. Turning to our assets in New Zealand. Our New Zealand real estate revenue decreased by 45% versus the third quarter of 2018. This decrease was primarily attributable to the temporary and ongoing closure of parts of Courtney Central And Wellington. Further negatively impacted by the weakened New Zealand dollar.
At Courtenay Central, during the third quarter, Our focus remained on the detailed planning and feasibility work for redevelopment of this existing building as opposed to the Wakefield And Torrey Street properties. We're focused on not only asset preservation through seismic strengthening works, but also creating a world class state of the art cinema and an improved ground floor offer through the potential launch of a vibrant food hall concept. Looking forward, we believe these comprehensive planning efforts will support a better economic case for proceeding with our goal of re imagining the existing Courtenay Central base as a dynamic community oriented entertainment and retail destination. Just the year, UNESCO, named Wellington as a UNESCO City of Film. This newest international accolade is in addition to consistent raking of Wellington as one of the top cities in the world in which to live.
Turning now to our 70.4 Acres of re zoned and undeveloped land in Mannacau Wherry, 1 of Auckland's premier industrial markets. As of October 2019, the Auckland Council is in the process of granting Reading along with our adjoining landowners who collectively make up the Southern Gateway Consortium conditional approval to begin the detailed design phase of the necessary infrastructure works. To date, Only preliminary design and town planning costs have been incurred. These costs have been shared by the Southern Gateway members in proportion to their land holdings. Before we turn to your questions, I'll turn the call over to Gilbert for a financial review of the third quarter 2019.
Thank you, Alan. The 2019 attendance and the box office results were the result of weak specialty film product in the U S when compared to the prior year period. However, we continue to look forward to the fourth quarter of 2019 better box office results with the release of Frozen 2, Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker and Jumanji the next level. These films are also expected to set up consolidated revenue for the third quarter of 2019 decreased by 5% to 70,500,000 For the 9 months ended September 30, 2019, revenue decreased by 11% to 208,100,000 compared to the same period at our U. S.
Specialty theatre. In addition, we're competing against a banner year in 2018. This combined factors resulted in a decrease in attendance in our U. S, Australia and New Zealand Circuits. These results were further impacted by a 7.7% decline in Australian dollars and a 5.1% decline in the New Zealand dollar for the 9 months ended September 30, 2019, over the comparable period in 2018.
As mentioned earlier, our cinema operation results in New Zealand were also adversely impacted by temporary closure as a result of the seismic concerns of our cinema at Courte Central in Wellington, which used to be the top performer in the New Zealand circuit. At the same time, the partial closure of our real estate segment in New Zealand. Net income to RDI common stockholders decreased by 30% 2,900,000 for the third quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in the prior year. Basic earnings per share for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, was $0.04, a decrease of $0.02 from the prior year quarter. For the year to date, September 2019, net income to RDI common stockholders declined by 87 percent to $1,200,000.
Basic earnings per share declined by $0.36 to 0 point 0 $5 from the same prior year period, Non segment G and A expenses for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 decreased by 7% to 4,500,000 compared to the same period non segment G and A decreased by 15 percent to $14,200,000. This was primarily the result of a lower legal expense when compared to the same period last year. Income tax expense for the quarter 9 months ended September 30, 2019 decreased by 900,000 and $3,500,000, respectively compared to the equivalent prior year period. The change between 2019 2018 was mainly related to a lower pretax income in the 1st 9 months of 2019. For the third quarter of 2019, our adjusted EBITDA decreased by 1.7000000 to 9,200,000 compared to the same prior year period.
Year to date adjusted EBITDA was 26,000,000 representing a $13,100,000 decline against the 1st 9 months of 2018. These decreases are primarily due to lower net income in the 1st 9 months of 2019, offset by decrease in legal fees. Shifting to cash 2019, net cash provided by operations decreased by $8,300,000 to $10,800,000 when compared to the prior year. This was primarily driven by $5,000,000 lower cash inflow from operation activities as well as a $3,300,000 decrease in net operating dollars. Cash used in investment activities decreased by $18,600,000 to 33,100,000 during the 1st 9 months of 2019 compared to the same period last year due to intentionally slowing our cinema refurbishment activities.
And the substantial completion of upgrading and expansion of our new However, it is anticipated that spending on our cinema activities will Cash provided by financing activities was $18,300,000 during the 9 months ended September 30, 2019, and was mainly related to 58,700,000 of the new borrowings, offset by 31,700,000 of loan repayments. Proceeds from these new borrowings are related principally to the ongoing construction of our 44 Union Square project in Manhattan. And the funds that capital improvements in our cinemas and real estate segments as well as the acquisition of Devonport in Australia. Turning now to our financial position. Our total assets increased to 657,800,000 compared to $439,000,000 at December 31, 2018.
This large increase of $219,100,000 was primarily driven by the implementation which also resulted in a in stockholders' equity supporting our assets. Additionally, with $8,700,000 of cash on our balance sheet at September 30, 2019, we are also in a strong liquidity position. Of our total cash balance amount, 2,700,000 and $1,100,000 was helped by our Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries, respectively. We used the amounts that we received from our cinema and real estate business to pay down our long term borrowings and realized savings from lower interest expense. We then settled our operating expenses, generally, with a lag within traditional trade terms.
This generates a working capital deficit, which is positive for the company. We manage our cash, investment and capital structure so that we are able to meet short term and long term obligations for our businesses. While maintaining financial flexibility and liquidity. As of September 30, 2019, there was approximately $84,100,000 of additional capacity under our borrowing arrangement in the U. S.
Australia and New Zealand, with $66,500,000 of that $84,100,000 being unrestricted capacity. Our overall global operating strategy is to conduct business mostly on a self funding basis except where it is organizationally and economically justified for us to move funds between jurisdictions where we do business. On November 5 2019, we extended our Bank of America facility to October 1 2020. With that, I will now turn it over to Andre.
Thanks, Gilbert. As usual, I'd like to thank our stockholders for forwarding questions to our investor relations email. We've compiled a set of questions and answers, representing the most common questions and recurring themes emailed to us. As always, We are making ourselves available after the webcast to address any additional questions and encourage you to continue reaching out to us. The first question, how is the board thinking about capital allocation in light of RDI approaching the $25,000,000 limit on the repurchase authorization.
Beyond the large one time share repurchase How do you view the pace of share repurchases? The company is getting low on repurchase authority given the recent pace. Is a new authorization in the cards. K. I will handle that response.
In evaluating how best our return value to shareholders, in Q3 2019, we decided to make a substantial purchase under our authorized stock buyback program. During the 9 months ended September 30, 2019, the company invested $11,300,000 to repurchase 856,563 shares. Of Class A nonvoting common stock, of which $7,800,000 was paid in cash, and the 3,500,000 remainder through the issuance of a purchase money promissory note due and payable on September 18, 2024. As a result, as September 30, 2019, the company had used 20,100,000 of the 25,000,000 authorized by the company's Board of Directors in 2017 to repurchase class a nonvoting common stock. We did receive a number of inquiries into whether the counterparty on the note used to buy the 407,000 shares of class a nonvoting common stock was a cotta or an entity related to a cotta family member.
I can confirm that the counterparty was not a cutter or any entity related to a codder family member. We negotiated to pay the bulk of the purchase price through a 5 year promissory note, so as to preserve capital for our various refurbishment and real estate development projects. The interest rate on this loan is 5% far below our anticipated growth rate over this period. As a transaction was privately negotiated, no brokerage or investment banking fees were incurred. We obviously have more flexibility where we are able to repurchase equity for a note payable over a reasonable period of time at a reasonable interest rate.
Similar to any of our previous stop buyback programs, when the allotted amount is spent, We will request the board to consider another authorization. We are maintaining a balanced approach to our 3 year strategy. Where we see the best opportunities to use our resources, we will invest accordingly. We are an operating company, in two key segments. And as such, we will continue to work toward our goal of directing capital to areas where it can drive the greatest long term value through strategic investments in our cinemas and real estate development projects.
Another question came regarding the ground lease purchase. Please discuss the reasoning and plans behind the purchase of the ground lease in Lower Manhattan. Ellen?
The the ground lease or stockholders referring to is at the New York City, which is about a 15 minute walk from the Angelica Film Center in SoHo. We delivered a notice to exercise our five $900,000 option based on the determination by management and our audit and conflicts committee that there is substantial value in the underlying lease. Once we complete the exercise of our option, we will eliminate a Sutton Hill, thereby reducing our overall occupancy costs and in our view, providing an adequate return on the $5,900,000 exercise price. Upon exercise, we'll be in privity with the groundless ore for more than a decade unless we buy the property. Due to the landmark status of the building, the uses are limited.
Today, the cinema is programmed together with the Angelica Film Center in New York, In the near term, our goal is to improve the theater level cash flow by adding recliner seating to select auditoriums, improving the F and B offer. And rebranding it in Angelica film center.
Thanks, Ellen. Thanks for that clarification. We have also received several questions relating to capital expenditure since 2015. And our return on investment expectations as well as the impact to our EBITDA. Gilbert, can you address this?
Since 2015, we have purchased several real estate properties, the Cannon Park Center in Townsville, the Telstra Building in Auburn, our U. S. Corporate office in Culver City. In our existing new market site, we've increased our gross leasable space as well as opened our new market cinema. The Union Square redevelopment project in New York City is nearing completion, and we are actively working on its leasing.
We have also added new cinema locations, Olino in Hawaii, Devonport in Tasmania, Lynn Mo in Auckland, and the hut in Wellington. CapEx has been spent upgrading our cinema circuits with state of the art seating, premium food and beverage offering. Our ROI for our real estate investment is in the low teens and mid teens for our cinema investment. Foreign exchange volatility, assets which have fallen out of our portfolio, as well as assets that are not yet in revenue generating cycle. All have to be considered in our overall return on investment mix.
Also, as part of any operation, assets that have been generating the necessary return may now be impacted by competition that did not exist at inception. We continuously monitor our investment on an asset by asset basis to ensure we are generating the highest return based on the given economic conditions.
Thanks, Gilbert. The last question we have here is Given that the decision to close Courtney Central is at management's discretion. Please provide more detail on why this decision was made and for what reason.
Ellen? At the end of last year, we commissioned a detailed seismic assessment of our Courtney Central Building. That report highlighted potential risk to the cinema levels of Courtenay Central if a major seismic event were to occur. These risks were unrelated to the 2016 earthquake. We immediately decided to close the building while we further investigated.
Our top priority is and has always been the safety of our guests, tenants, employees, and the communities around our centers. That decision was based on our proactive approach to safety. Following further investigation with our engineering and consultant team, we reopen certain areas of the building, but the cinema and ground floor remain closed. While we could have with appropriate disclosures to our patrons legally continue to operate in this location. As a company, we decided that the safety of our various stakeholders was the paramount concern.
Over the last several months, we completed a detailed analysis of the seismic strengthening work required to achieve an acceptable seismic rating. We have now coupled that work with development plans to upgrade our Reading cinemas and the ground floor. Courtney Central opened in the year 2002. It's been our intention for the last few years to upgrade the building. This unfortunate closure event has to some extent caused us to accelerate our plans to upgrade the center.
That's almost twenty years old. Our goal now is to deliver a redevelop Courtney Central that offers the willing to community and its tourists and visitors a dynamic and vibrant venue.
Thank you, Ellen. With that, we mark the conclusion of the call. We are available for any follow-up calls, so please do not hesitate to reach out. We appreciate you listening to the call today. And thank all of you for your attention.