It is his intention—and we enthusiastically agree—to put the restored facility into the hands of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. This will guarantee sound operation and rental agreements affordable by local arts groups. It now remains for the current owner Paul Phillips and Mr. Wall to sit down together and work out an agreement acceptable to both parties. Once that is done, we can look forward to construction, not demolition. What a jewel will now be added to our community!

This is a great day for Vancouver! It clearly demonstrates that we now have a City Council that is sending a positive message of support to arts and culture groups and their audiences. Please email the mayor and members of Council with your thanks and appreciation.

Thank you for your support and help in getting this to happen.

Sincerely,
Tom Durrie
Save the York Theatre Society

Related News

Agrees to buy, renovate and hand over theatre in exchange for tower

Council is trying to help save the York Theatre, also known as The Raja Cinema. – Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, The Province

Vancouver developer Bruno Wall has offered to spend up to $12 million to buy and restore the historic York Theatre, now slated to be torn down Jan. 15 to make way for townhomes.

Wall has also offered to hand ownership to the city — in exchange for development rights equivalent to a 20-storey building, to be built on an as-yet undetermined city site.

The 500-seat theatre, opened in 1912 near the north end of Commercial Drive, was home to the Vancouver Little Theatre, where a number of local actors launched their careers. It later hosted musical acts and Bollywood films.

But it has been empty for several years. EDG Homes bought the property for $960,000 in August 2007 after being assured by city staff that there was no historical significance or interest in the theatre.

The city has approved EDG’s townhouse proposal, which is now eligible for building permits. Demolition of the theatre is legally permitted as of Jan. 15.

Yesterday, EDG’s Peter Phillips warned council that ongoing development costs and liabilities would force him to demolish the theatre and proceed with the townhouses if no deal for a sale is completed.

In March, the city’s attitude toward the site changed. The Vancouver Heritage Commission ruled that it was eligible for listing in the Vancouver Heritage Register.

Arts groups that want the theatre saved argued its restoration would provide the hub for a cultural district when combined with the nearby Vancouver East Cultural Centre and the cafes and galleries bordering Commercial Drive.

Yesterday, after learning that Wall had stepped forward with cash that arts groups and theatre fans have failed for years to raise, council agreed to offer Wall the unusual density deal to encourage him to proceed with the purchase.

Heather Redfern, director of the Vancouver Eastside Cultural Centre that would run the new theatre, applauded the move.

Redfern described the theatre as “the perfect place” — an ideal, mid-sized venue that would provide affordable space for small projections and art showings in a city where theatre space of any kind is at a premium.

cmontgomery@theprovince.com

On Thursday December 18th, 2008, at 10:00 am, City Council will consider a staff recommendation.

Council’s decision will determine the future of the York Theatre.

If Council approves the staff recommendation to grant a transfer of density to cover one-third of the restoration costs, the York Theatre will be demolished.

If Council approves the prospective buyer’s request to grant a transfer of density to cover 100% of the restoration costs, the York Theatre will be restored.

The Save the York Theatre Society is asking Council to approve a density transfer of 100% of the value of the restoration.

Our Last Opportunity

This is our last opportunity to save the York Theatre.

To register to speak at City Council this Thursday, email Denise Salmon click here.

To express your views by email to the Mayor and Council click here.

To contribute to the conversation on the Vancouver Arts and Cultures Forum use the comment box below.

The Story

The York Theatre was purchased by a developer in 2007 with the intention to demolish the building and build residential units.

The Save the York Theatre Society mobilized the community to stop the demolition and found a benefactor interested in purchasing and restoring the theatre.

The Vancouver East Cultural Centre Society expressed an interest in operating the theatre and began working with the benefactor and the City.

On September 18th, 2008, City Council placed a 120-day protection order on the York Theatre to allow the Vancouver East Cultural Centre Society to complete a Feasibility Study and Operation Plan for the York Theatre.

The benefactor agreed to purchase and pay for the complete restoration of the theatre in exchange for increased density on another site in the City. The City donates air and the community receives a fully restored theatre.

The staff report does not support this proposal. It recommends the Vancouver East Cultural Centre Society fund raise for two thirds of the restoration cost. The Society stated from the beginning they were not in a position to do any fund raising.

On January 16, the current owner will have the right to begin demolition of the York Theatre. Although staff recommends Council ask him to voluntarily postpone demolition, the owner intends to tear the building down as soon the protection order expires in mid-January 2009 and has already started dismantling the interior.

The December 18th Council meeting is our last opportunity to save the York Theatre

More Information

To read the Staff Recommendations and Report to Council on the York Theatre PDF click here

To read the call to the community which attracted the interest of a benefactor to Save the York Theatre click here

To read the History and Vision for the York Theatre click here

To read about the Need for Theatre Space in Vancouver click here

To read what Heritage Vancouver says about the York Theatre as one of the 2008 Top Ten Endangered Sites click here

To read what the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance says about the York Theatre click here

A group of community members who are interested in saving and restoring the York Theatre met at City Hall on December 6, 2007 with the new owner of the York Theatre and a number of representatives from the Planning Department, Cultural Affairs, and Heritage Group for the City of Vancouver.

The History and Vision for the York Theatre tells the story of why the York Theatre should be saved and restored. Click here

It was clear from this meeting that the new owner and developer, Paul Phillips of Edge Homes, has no interest in preserving the theatre. During the city strike, he was led to believe there would be no opposition to the demolition of the theatre and a townhouse development.

It is now clear that there is considerable support from the community for restoring and maintaining the theatre from the many letters and emails members of the community wrote to City Council. Our work is not over. The developer has a vested interest in this property and every day that goes by costs him money.

It is urgent that we communicate our desire to preserve this cultural facility and to act quickly to find a solution that will work for the developer and the community.

Recently we lost the historic Imperial Theatre, most recently known as the Venus Theatre, on Main at Union Street. Though rundown in recent years, this was still a restorable and usable purpose-built theatre, discovered to be in excellent condition once the demolition started. It opened in 1912 with a performance of Il Trovatore.

Also lost recently is the lovely art deco turret building at Georgia and Richards, formerly used as the Fido display and sales centre. We must stop this demolition of our architectural and cultural heritage.

The Opportunity to Save The York Theatre

Buy the York Theatre. The contribution is clear. The risk of losing any capital invested is low. Financing can be arranged to make costs tax deductible. The community will appreciate the contribution, and the opportunity is open to be part of the creative team. It could be an individual, a foundation, a business, or a community organization like the Coal Harbour Society, or a cooperative of contributors.

Tom Durrie
Save the York Theatre Society
email tdurrie@telus.net
604-215-0019

Contributors to the Save the York Theatre Society

Clifford Cox, Dr. Stephen Drance, Tom Durrie, David Galpin, Christopher Gaze, Spencer Massie, Heather Redfern, José Verstappen

More on the York Theatre

Time is running out for those keen to save the York Theatre

The York Theatre on Commercial Drive once home to Vancouver Little Theatre Society – Photo – Dan Toulgoet

If city council doesn’t get behind a campaign to save the building that was most recently the Raja Cinema, it could be demolished within four months, says Tom Durrie.

That’s why Durrie, founder of the Save the York Theatre Task Force and former manager of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, is arranging meetings with individual councillors. Tom Durrie heads up the task force that hopes to save the York Theatre, more recently known as the Raja Cinema, which was built in 1913.

The group is urging citizens to send letters of support for the retention of the theatre to city council. It’s also seeking “bridge funding”–most likely, money from an individual to buy the building, which in October sold for $960,000–and is developing business and fundraising plans.

“The property will either be bought back from them by the society [task force] or else, if that all falls apart, they can simply resell it, probably at a profit,” Durrie said. “So it’s a matter of putting up money. It’s not really a risk.”

Members of the task force working to save the theatre at Commercial Drive, just north of Venables, met with Paul Phillips, president of Vintage Development Corp., one of the owners of the building, and with city planning, cultural affairs and heritage staff in December.

Durrie said Rob Jenkins, a city planner, mentioned the possibility of the city finding an alternative site for the developer to build townhouses.

“Unfortunately, when [the developer] first made his inquiries at city hall it was during the strike and he was told there was no interest in the theatre whatsoever,” Durrie said. “It’s unfortunate. I’m sure he would have had second thoughts otherwise, because there may well be delays in proceeding with this application.”

Jenkins said the task force raised the idea of an alternative site. He said the city is working on a cultural facilities study and is unable to respond to individual requests for capital funding at this time. He said finding an alternative site is unlikely, but the city is looking into it.

Phillips, also president of and designer for EDG Homes Inc., expects to file a development application with the city in the next two weeks. Such applications typically take four months to be processed. Once that’s done, a demolition permit could be issued.

“As time goes by we’re less inclined to sell it because we have more invested, obviously, in terms of time and energy,” Phillips said.

Durrie first founded a group to save the theatre when demolition was proposed in 1981. Although the building remained intact, the city said the York was culturally insignificant. It’s not on the city’s heritage register. But now the city is looking beyond architectural significance to consider its cultural and historical value, he said.

Durrie said John McCarter, who later helped designed the historic Marine Building downtown, designed the York. The 475-seat theatre is plain inside, but in good shape.

“It was built in 1913, just at the time when this part of town, the Grandview area, was beginning to develop. The tram lines were put in at that point and so a lot of rising middle class people built houses out here,” Durrie said. “At the time when they built it, they sort of envisioned this as being the cultural centre of Vancouver, and it still could be.”

The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance wishes to express its strongest possible support for a civic initiative to help preserve and revitalize this precious and historic cultural facility.

At a time when public attention is on the significant lack of performing arts resources, the loss of this venue would be a crisis of vision and leadership. Having a theatre like the York destroyed through civic inaction in any cosmopolitan city would be just cause for dismay. That it could well happen here in Vancouver is deeply unsettling.

We urge Council to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the preservation of this theatre. We understand the Save the York Theatre Society will be presenting a comprehensive business plan for the restoration and re-development of the theatre. We further understand that time is of the essence and ask that any move toward demolition be delayed or halted.

We would like to confirm that there is strong support from the theatre community for the preservation of the York Theatre. We greatly appreciate the city’s initiative in launching a study on cultural facilities in 07/08. We also appreciate and thank the city for its efforts in broadly consulting the community in this process. However, while the city conducts this important work of thoroughly assessing the present and future needs for arts facilities of all types, we also encourage Council to act quickly in this particular set of circumstances to help preserve the York Theatre before it is torn down.

We think it would be a great shame if Vancouver loses one if its landmark theatres, a venue which represents a significant part of Vancouver’s cultural history.

Tanja Dixon Warren, President
Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance
January 10, 2008

email info@gvpta.ca
Call 604 608 6923
www.gvpta.ca

Proposed street front of the restored York Theatre – Downs-Archambault design 1982

A History and Vision for the York Theatre has been created by the Save the York Theatre Society. The Forum on the Future of Theatres reflected the community’s concerns about our last remaining opportunities to preserve and restore our heritage theatres. The need for theatre space in Vancouver is clear. The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance confirms there is strong support from the theatre community. The City’s report on the Coal Theatre Arts Complex concluded there is a shortage of performance venues in the City. And the Vancouver East Cultural Centre indicated it could operate the theatre on an interim basis if it was returned to early use and restored fully later.

The Save the York Theatre Society met on December 18th to what consider steps could be taken to save the York. The group had met with representatives of the new owner and people from the City Planning and Cultural Affairs Departments at City Hall on December 6th to learn the developer was open to possibilities.

It will take time to answer the questions related to creating a future for the theatre – who might operate it, – who might use it, – and how its restoration and future operation could be financed.

Time is running out. Since the developers are open to conversation but anxious to move ahead on their project to realize a return on their investment, it was decided the best course of action would be to find someone willing to buy the York Theatre from the new owner and hold it on behalf of the community until these questions could be answered and plans created.

The contribution to the community is clear. The land would provide security for someone willing to do this so the risk of losing any capital invested is low. Financing can be arranged to make costs tax deductible. The community will appreciate the contribution and the opportunity is open to be part of the creative team. It could be an individual, a foundation, a business, a community organization like the Coal Harbour Arts Complex Society, or a cooperative of contributors. The property was purchased by the developer for just under a million dollars.

For more information and interest in this opportunity contact
Tom Durrie
Save the York Theatre Society
email tdurrie@telus.net
604-215-0019

More on the York Theatre

Townhouses planned for York site The new owners of the York Theatre on Commercial Drive plan to replace the theatre with eco-friendly townhouses.

Paul Phillips, president of EDG Homes Inc., which purchased the property last October as Vintage Development Corp. with business partners Small Favours Pictures Limited and 0805122 BC Limited, told the Straight he is not interested in preserving the theatre.

“Our interest is to develop an environmentally sensitive, LEED-certified townhome development there—a cutting-edge property in line with the EcoDensity of [Vancouver mayor] Mr. Sullivan’s dreams,” he said by phone. “It will be townhomes with attached garages, with roof gardens and low-toxicity materials.”

Phillips said he and his partners will submit their plans to the city within the next week or two, and expect development to begin in May or June this year.

Members of Vancouver’s arts community, led by Tom Durrie, the former general manager of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, have been campaigning to save the York Theatre since last fall. They now hope to find a way to purchase the property from the developers. “The idea is to buy time,” Durrie said.

Roger Chilton, chair of the Downtown Vancouver Association’s arts and culture committee and part of the campaign to save the theatre, told the Straight he’s confident someone will step forward with the necessary funds.

“Whoever ties up the capital wouldn’t lose money,” Chilton said, “but they’d make a huge contribution to the community holding their capital in this investment, which they could always resell.”

Phillips is not completely averse to the idea of selling his recently acquired property. “We’re businessmen and the property’s always for sale, I guess, at the right price,” he said.

The new owner of the York Theatre on Commercial Drive is set for a face-to-face meeting with advocates of the venue’s preservation on Thursday morning (December 3) at Vancouver City Hall, under the auspices of the city’s planning department.

According to Tom Durrie, former general manager of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and leader of a campaign to save the York Theatre from demolition, the new owner of the property is Paul Phillips of EDG Homes Inc. Durrie said he has rounded up a group for the meeting, including the Vancouver East Cultural Centre’s executive director, Heather Redfern; architect David Galpin of Downs/Archambault & Partners; and Philip Boname, president of development planning firm Urbanics Consultants Ltd. “I think we have at least accomplished getting the whole thing on the city’s agenda,” Durrie told the Straight.

James Boldt, heritage planner with the city, explained to the Straight that the theatre appears to meet the requirements for heritage status. “Our feeling is that it would be eligible for the register, but it hasn’t been fully reviewed yet,” he said. “At this stage we’re just trying to bring some parties together and start looking at options involving retention of the theatre.”

Durrie said he was optimistic about the meeting, but that “if the developer is determined to go ahead and going to plan for demolition, then I say ‘Look out,’ because there are an awful lot of people who are interested in seeing this theatre survive and be redeveloped as it should be.”

The question is always: Do we need another theatre, and who would use it? Here’s the answer: In 2006 the Coal Harbour Arts Complex Society led an inventory of existing performance spaces and a survey of potential theatre users. The following is a condensation of the results.

The inventory found that there were 22 venues seating under 500, divided up as follows:

• Under 200 seats: 9
• 200-350 seats: 9
• 350-500 seats: 4
• Total Theatres: 22

A closer look is more revealing.

Of the venues under 200 seats, the Arts Club Revue, Studio 58, Pacific Theatre, and Jericho Arts Centre are used, almost exclusively, by resident companies. This leaves Robson Square (200), Western Front (100), Vancouver Art Gallery (150), Heritage Hall (150), and Maison de la Francophonie (100). Not one of these is actually a theatre or purpose built performance space.

The 200-350 seat range includes the Waterfront Theatre (240), the Vancouver Academy of Music Recital Hall (284), the WISE Hall (225), the UBC School of Music Recital Hall (289), Tom Lee Music (240), Performance Works (250), The Roundhouse (250), the Norman Rothstein Theatre (318), and The Dance Centre (240). Anyone who has attended an event or worked in any of these venues knows that, with the exception of the Norman Rothstein Theatre, they are either black boxes, converted spaces, or recital halls.

The four venues seating 350-500 are The Arts Club Granville Island (450), the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (360), the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC (410), and the Metro Theatre (399). Only the Vancouver East Cultural Centre is generally available for rental.

Anyone looking for theatre space of this size is faced with approximately two choices.

The list of larger (500-3000 seats) venues is considerably smaller. It includes the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (2813), the Orpheum Theatre (2788), the Vancouver Playhouse (673), the Commodore Ballroom (900), the Vogue Theatre (1144), the Centre, former Ford Theatre (1800), the Chan Centre (1200), and the Stanley (650). When it comes to availability and affordability, only the Vogue Theatre would be a consideration for local groups.

A local performing arts group looking for a dedicated theatrical venue of practical size has only three choices, each of which comes with its own unique problems.

A Theatre – Who Needs it?

In February of 2006, a survey of 220 local arts groups was conducted in order to assess potential usage of performance venues of various sizes.

• 200 seats: 401 uses
• 450 seats: 359 uses
• 600 seats: 155 uses
• 1000 seats: 117 uses
• 1500 seats: 15 uses
• 1800 seats: 195 uses

In conclusion, theatres of the size of the York Theatre (450-500) and the Pantages Theatre (650), there would be in the range of 514 to 915 uses per year. Indications are that a theatre the size of the Vogue (1144) could attract 132 uses by local groups. These figures do not include bookings by touring or out-of-town performing organizations.

Of notable significance is that each of these three historic theatres was purpose built. That is they are proscenium theatres with dedicated seating (each has a balcony), appropriate audience amenities, dressing rooms, and fly galleries. And each theatre has played a significant role in Vancouver’s cultural history.

Looking at these figures, it is hard to believe that the York Theatre, the Pantages Theatre, and the Vogue Theatre are dark, empty, and unused. All three require repair, restoration, and revitalization. All three await the support of the City, of corporations, and of individuals. We hear much talk of Vancouver as a “Creative City,” now is the time to turn that idea into a reality.

Survey information was taken, with thanks, from:
Coal Harbour Arts Complex Planning Study + Program Assessment
Created by Bing Thom Architects for the Coal Harbour Arts Complex Society