Arts group has deal to upgrade and run Pantages Theatre
Sale of historic venue would see developer turn over operation of theatre to consortium
A group representing arts organizations is poised to take over the Pantages Theatre, spend millions fixing the 107-year-old building and then run it.
The Performing Arts Coalition (PAC) has struck a deal with the owner of the old venue to purchase it for a dollar.
Details of the deal were disclosed at a meeting of the city's property, planning and development committee on Monday.
Ross McGowan, the former president of CentreVenture, and Curt Vossen, who is president and CEO of Richardson International Ltd., have been in negotiations with Alex Boersma and his partner, who purchased the theatre from the city for $530,000.
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McGowan and Vossen have pledged PAC will raise between $10 million and $15 million to restore the historic venue and install a management team to operate it.
"We are committed, in writing, to restoring and redeveloping the theatre for the home of the Winnipeg Symphony and others that are interested as well," McGowan told reporters.
Boersma's company will retain a slice of the property next to the building and develop housing units on it.
The item was before the committee because an easement is needed to ensure the public art installation Bloody Saturday — a streetcar sculpture that commemorates the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike — would remain at the corner of Main Street and Market Avenue.
The housing development would be built on a strip of the property between Pantages and the streetcar sculpture.
Boersma says there is still much planning to do before he can reveal what the housing development looks like or how many units are involved.
"It's under development. This is so preliminary, but with our consultants were are really comfortable we can achieve what we want to do," Boersma said.
The developer says the location — across from city hall, next to the Centennial Concert Hall and down the street from the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre — is perfectly suited for the type of project they want to do.
"I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something really special that sort of bookends that entire block of buildings," Boersma said.
McGowan says CentreVenture did a significant analysis of the Pantages building several years ago and is comfortable the Performing Arts Coalition has a firm understanding of what's needed to restore and upgrade the old venue.
"It continues to deteriorate, and our fear was, without a major intervention we'd have another Metropolitan Theatre on our hands," McGowan said.
The Metropolitan Theatre sat empty for many years and was only saved after a multi-million dollar restoration by Canad Inns and support from government.