Bard on the Beach, the Arts Club Theatre Co. and Pacific Theatre are completing feasibility studies and plan to negotiate with the City of Vancouver to lease a 45,000-square-foot space at 160 West First Avenue.
The expectation is that the site would be split in two with Bard and the Arts Club sharing one half and Pacific Theatre using the other half as a 250-seat theatre.
"It will be their theatre, not ours," Arts Club executive director Howard Jang told Business in Vancouver September 28. "The Arts Club is not looking for another theatre."
Bard and the Arts Club would use their half of the complex for rehearsal space and an area to build sets and costumes, Jang said.
Upgrading the space is likely to cost about $8 million, although Jang said that both the exact price and a determination that the facility is appropriate for the theatre troupes is being considered by two feasibility studies that will be completed within a month.
The space was previously earmarked for the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Co., which shut down earlier this year.
The city then issued a request for proposals to hear from potential tenants and selected the three theatre organizations as the ones that are eligible to start negotiations.
The annual lease cost is expected to be $1 per year.
Meanwhile, the Arts Club has been upgrading its facilities. The theatre company just spent $300,000 to install new seats in its Granville Island Main Stage theatre, which is currently showing the Tony Award-winning show "Master Class."
