Khyber Centre gets reprieve at Halifax council meeting

Halifax regional council voted unanimously on Tuesday to take another look at the future of the Khyber, much to the relief of supporters of the iconic Barrington Street building.

The downtown building, recognizable because of its turrets, had been on a list of surplus buildings up for disposal.

"The Khyber is the Peggys Cove of Barrington Street," warned Coun. David Hendsbee.

"It has to be handled carefully."

Waye Mason — the councillor for the area — tabled a motion on Tuesday to have the Khyber removed from the surplus list. He asked for a report from staff on turning the 100-year-old building into an arts and cultural centre and how much it would cost to upgrade the building.

Halifax Regional Municipality staff have said that would cost $4.6 million, but original estimates were much lower.

Mason said there were hundreds of emails arguing the building should remain open — but he still wants a review on the condition of the structure. He also questioned why a plan approved in 2010 to transform the building into a cultural facility was never implemented.

"Even councillors who have very little interest in the arts are interested in what happened there," Mason said.

"Nothing ever happened beyond signing the Khyber's lease and letting them rent one floor of the building. So there's a whole plan to activate on that building and have other people in there and none of that happened and so I want to know why."

'It's a step in the right direction'

Council members unanimously voted in favour of Mason's motion.

Joel Plaskett, a well-known musician, spearheaded the efforts to save the Khyber Centre for the Arts. He was in council chambers for the debate and was joined by dozens of other Khyber supporters.

"I think it's a step in the right direction," Plaskett said after the council vote.

"The thing that's been fun for me, in terms of just rallying for this, is I've been hearing from friends spread out all over the country and the world who were in the Khyber Building back in the day, telling me what it means to them."

Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi, was among those who added their voices in support of the Khyber Centre for the Arts.

"Here's hoping that Halifax, a city that cares deeply about its past, can also look to its artistic future," he said.

Plaskett said it won't be a victory for supporters of the Khyber until the doors are open again.

"What the Khyber represents is bigger than the building itself, but the building itself is also incredible and has done a lot for the community and we want to keep that happening," he said.

"It gets the dialogue happening between all the groups that have inhabited the Khyber. I think it's positive."