Former London theatre turned sports bar bulldozed to make way for Joan's Place

A well-known London building that once housed a popular repertory theatre and then a late-night party bar was torn down Monday, making way for a housing project for vulnerable women and children.

The now-demolished building on the corner of Richmond and York streets has stood empty for years. It was acquired in 2017 by Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), which intends to turn it into 35 affordable apartments.

On Monday, as a bulldozer took down the walls, YOU executive director Steve Cordes said construction would begin shortly on the new site, called Joan's Place.

"I wish we could have built this years ago, as it's so needed, but it takes time to put projects like this together," Cordes explained. 

So far, more than $11 million have been raised for the project, with the first million having come from the family of Joan Smith, for whom the building is named.

Smith served as a London city councillor in the late 1970s until her election as a Liberal MPP in 1985. She was Ontario's first female solicitor general and a mother of seven.

Cordes said project organizers are still waiting to hear if they will receive $4 million from the federal government.

Once complete, Joan's Place will also house a Youth Wellness Hub, which will provide young people with supports for housing, employment, training and education.

The building at 329 Richmond St. was home to the New Yorker Theatre, which went through multiple ownership phases from 1974 until it closed permanently in the late 1990s. It was then transformed into a series of nightclubs and a student bar, which was most popularly known as GTs. The building had been vacant since 2008.