n.d.g.'s old empress theatre to be sold for mixed-use development, city says
numerous projects have been presented since the 1990s to repair and reuse the almost 100-year-old building, but none has come to fruition.
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n.d.g.'s empress theatre, seen october 2017, is to be sold for mixed-use development.
christinne muschi
/
montreal gazette file
the next role for the decaying former empress theatre will be as a real estate project.
the city of montreal is getting ready to sell the sherbrooke st. w. landmark in notre-dame-de-grâce, also once known as cinema v, for redevelopment, annie gerbeau, the interim director of the city’s real estate strategy department, told a public hearing on the city’s 2025 operating budget on friday.
“the empress theatre has undergone a financial analysis that will allow us to proceed with a sale shortly,” she told council’s finance and administration committee as she presented her department’s activities this year and its objectives for 2025.
the department’s budget presentation was short on detail, but it said “financial profitability analyses promoting site development scenarios” were launched this year. “next step: drafting call for proposals documents.”
a spokesperson for the office of mayor valérie plante and the city executive committee told the gazette that the potential uses for the boarded-up former theatre at the corner of old orchard ave. are still being analysed to establish the parameters and criteria for its development when the property is put up for sale.
“it will be a mixed project with residential,” spokesperson simon charron added. “there will be at least 20 per cent of non-market housing on site,” as required under city regulations.
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numerous projects have been presented since the 1990s to repair and reuse the building, but none has come to fruition.
as recently as 2021, the borough of côte-des-neiges—n.d.g. and numerous west-end residents had expressed interest in turning at least part of the property into a cultural venue again.
built in 1927, the empress theatre hosted burlesque stage productions and then dinner theatre before it became a cinema and repertory cinema. in 1992, a major fire destroyed the building, forcing it to close. the building, which still features elements of its original egyptian revival exterior, has been abandoned ever since.
the city bought the theatre in 1999 from standard life insurance company. after the municipal mergers, the theatre was eventually transferred to the c.d.n.—n.d.g. borough, which launched a public process in 2020 to solicit ideas for its revival.
citizens presented more than 100 ideas to the borough in 2021, and many of those involved a theatre or cinema. the borough said when it launched the reflection in 2020 that it was looking to transform the property into a mixed-use facility that would include artistic and community spaces, affordable housing and retail space.
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the building was deemed to be in poor shape years ago. the borough said in 2020 that scenarios could include partial or complete demolition of the building, although it was committed to integrating the concrete ancient egypt motifs on the façade into a new project.
“it’s good that something is moving, but it’s amazing how slow things are moving,” heritage montreal program director dinu bumbaru said, adding that “we hope the city is serious this time.”
“we know there is an issue of decay (of the building), so the costs are only going to be higher. it sounds like a recipe for demolition.”
he also cautioned that the ground floor of the building has features that may be worth integrating into a project, including the deep floor space.
“there are still some remnants of the interior decoration,” bumbaru said, “so it shouldn’t be taken for granted that there’s nothing except the facade.”
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