The saga of the World Exchange Plaza’s threatened theatre has entered a new chapter as City of Ottawa officials have begun negotiating with the building’s owners to clarify their responsibility for providing an entertainment venue within the downtown commercial property.
The theatre’s fate has been in limbo since its previous owner, Empire Theatres, announced in June it was leaving the theatre operating business. The Calgary-based company Landmark Cinemas agreed to take over the theatre, now named the Landmark 7, at the beginning of November until its lease expires at the end of December.
Landmark has expressed interest in extending the seven-screen theatre’s lease on the plaza’s third floor.
The city’s finance and economic development committee passed a motion Dec. 3 to begin the negotiations with the plaza’s owners after receiving a report from the city manager.
Bentall Kennedy, the company that manages the building, placed a request to the city in order to clarify its requirement of providing a venue for “entertainment use” outlined in a development agreement with the city
The firm has maintained from the beginning that the request is a precautionary measure in case it is unable to reach an agreement with a theatre operator.
“We want to reiterate to the community that we want to have a theatre,” Daniel Gray, Bentall Kennedy’s vice-president of leasing, told the committee.
Gray said that keeping the theatre open has always been the preferable option because converting the space into offices would be expensive and time-consuming.
Finding an owner for the theatre, however, depends on the “market conditions and business plans of theatre operators,” according to the new city report.
The city’s mandate for staffers to seek clarification during the negotiations is open-ended, but Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes made known her support for the Centretown’s last remaining theatre at the meeting.
“There are so many people who live downtown who only have one theatre, and it’s very important that that theatre space should remain as a theatre,” she says.
Though the World Exchange Plaza has no official obligation to keep the theatre running, she also recognized the significant investments the city has made in the building.
She mentioned the allocation of traffic lanes on Metcalfe and O’Connor streets for access to the plaza’s parking garage, a unique concession on the city’s behalf, suggesting the owners should also act in the interest of the community.
“The city has invested major dollars in this development and expects to have some kind of public conscience, perhaps, as a result,” she says.
Thomas McVeigh, president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, highlighted the importance of the theatre to Centretown inhabitants and businesses to the committee.
“Part of what brings us into the World Exchange Plaza, part of our interaction with it, is that theatre,” he said.
Landmark’s current deal ensures the theatre’s operation until Dec. 31, but its existence beyond 2013 remains uncertain.
Gray confirmed at the meeting that Bentall Kennedy was in “serious discussions” with Landmark about extending the theatre’s lease, but could offer no further details.