Love or hate that big red cube at the corner of John and Richmond, nearly everyone in Toronto has feelings about the Scotiabank Theatre.
Some people dig its reflective neon escalator panels. Other people cry about how often those escalators are broken. Some say it's the best spot to watch movies in Toronto. Others call it inconvenient because they drive automobiles.
Whatever your views, it soon won't matter: The entire building is almost definitely coming down. Eventually.
Big Box is temporary. RioCan Hall (Scotiabank Theatre) Redevelopment via @Urban_Toronto https://t.co/9n4jt37f1c
— Robert Ruggiero (@robert_ruggiero) February 23, 2019
RioCan, one of Canada's leading real estate investment trust firms, recently announced that it is "exploring the redevelopment" of its RioCan Hall complex in downtown Toronto.
RioCan Hall, home to the Cineplex-owned Scotiabank Theatre since 1999, also houses such current tenants as Michaels, Marshalls and Goodlife Fitness.
A forum thread concerning the venue's redevelopment got local Twitter users into a tizzy last week over the impending demolishment of a treasured movie theatre, but it's important to note that nothing is 100 per cent locked down right now.
RioCan only just unveiled preliminary designs for the project on Wednesday, and while said plans do involve tearing down all of RioCan Hall (save for one facade in front of Marshalls), they've yet to be approved by the city.
Outrageous. I mean, if they built a new one somewhere downtown, fine, but for a city with one of the major world film festivals, tearing down the Scotiabank theatre is insane.
— Mark Collins (@MCollinsWrkShp) February 23, 2019
The ambitious scale of the new development suggests it could be years before any design work is finalized, let alone construction plans.
"From what we understand any plans to redevelop the land would be very, very long-term," said Sarah Van Lange, Executive Director of Communications for Cineplex, when asked about the project.
RioCan CEO and founder Ed Sonshine said similarly that "nothing much will happen to the property for a long while."
"One day, the property will be redeveloped, but that is many, many years in the future," said Sonshine via email on Monday. "It is filled with successful tenants, including the Scotiabank Theatre, and a new steak house opening soon."
Famous moments in the history of this theatre
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) February 23, 2019
1999: building opens as "The Paramount"
2005: building renamed "Scotiabank Theatre"
2015: I (with friends) was turned away from the late show of MORTDECAI, setting off international incident
2019: building slated for demolition https://t.co/Kuth9mccLD
Documents presented at the public design unveiling last week show that Toronto's own award-winning Hariri Pontarini Architects (the project's lead architects) are planning for a two-tower mixed-use complex.
Along with plenty of residential high-rise units, the new development as pitched right now will also include retail, office, daycare, amenity, theatre and even new public park space.
"I'm really impressed to be honest. They're really opening up the block," wrote one commenter in the forum thread. "Where I was expecting them to bulk the block up even further, they in fact have broken it down and made it more porous and open."
Some on Twitter may not agree, but perhaps they'll come around. Eventually.
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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