Stakeholders are close to agreeing to a deal that would save Kitsilano’s 79-year-old Hollywood Theatre on West Broadway near Balaclava Street.
The City of Vancouver would give bonus density to the cinema’s current owner, Bonnis Properties, to allow its principal, Dino Bonnis, to build a six-storey condominium building on an adjacent lot that is currently zoned for a four-storey strata building.
In exchange, Bonnis would sell his cinema to a buyer, likely the Point Grey Community Church (PGCC), for below market value.
The PGCC, which leased the Hollywood for 14 months until its lease expired in November, would then build a second storey atop the historic cinema and use that space for its operations. The church would also lease the cinema portion of the structure to a non-profit organization, which would rent space to community groups such as the Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver Opera and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
“Saving the Hollywood went from almost completely 0% likely two months ago to now being better than 50% that we can save it,” Save the Hollywood Coalition (STHC) spokesman Mel Lehan told Business in Vancouver. “Nothing is certain, and it’s a delicate thing, but basically all the players can come together to make this work.”
Lehan continues to appeal for a philanthropist to buy the building and donate it to either the city or to a non-profit organization that would be set up to administer the structure.
“We could also work with a group such as St. James Community Square,” Lehan said. “They’ve expressed an interest in being the operators. We’ll do whatever works to ensure that it remains a community and cultural space.”
The four main stakeholders (the church, Bonnis, STHC and the city) have had private talks with each other but have yet to have a meeting where all are present, city general manager of planning Brian Jackson told BIV. He is trying to arrange that meeting.
Jackson agreed that giving Bonnis bonus density could be the solution.
“Bonnis is looking at what his options are for developing his adjacent properties, so he’s given us a development scheme that we’re looking at,” he said. “We’re talking to our real estate staff and our heritage staff. What we need to do is look at the amount of density that he’s proposing for his adjacent properties to see if it balances out with the development potential of the Hollywood Theatre. That would help us help him arrive at a sale price for the cinema.”
City council in December voted on what it called a “heritage action plan,” which essentially gave staff new tools to use in negotiations with developers to preserve heritage. Jackson said one of those tools allows staff to provide more density on adjacent properties in exchange for saving a heritage resource. Any arrangement would then go to a public hearing and to council for a vote.
The site Bonnis wants to redevelop next to the Hollywood Theatre is zoned for six storeys of rental units but only four storeys if the units are condominiums.
Both Bonnis and PGCC spokeswoman Sarah Kift declined to comment for this story.
1984 agreement helps save Hollywood Theatre
The City of Vancouver stopped processing Bonnis Properties’ application to redevelop the Hollywood Theatre into a two-storey fitness facility earlier this month.
City staff discovered that there was an encroachment agreement, in place since 1984, which requires the cinema’s owner to remove 10 feet from the back of the building to allow for a wider lane if there is a change in use from being a cinema.
Bonnis dropped the application following discussions with the city about the encroachment agreement.
In November, council had approved a 75-day temporary protection order to postpone demolition of the iconic cinema amid protests from community groups.
Bonnis Properties bought the cinema in 2011 and left it empty until it leased the site to Point Grey Community Church in September 2012.
