Why is Brockville’s old Cineplex building being demolished and what are the plans for the site?
The Brockville community is openly mourning the loss of the former Brockville Cineplex building as demolition began at the site earlier this week.
Rumours have been swirling online for months about what will become of the building since the official announcement of the business’ closure on July 7 of this year. Many were holding out hope that another franchise like Landmark Cinemas would take its place, seeing as Brockvillians now must travel to other towns and cities to watch a movie at a theatre.
Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed when residents noticed bulldozers on site and demolition was underway.
The former Cineplex building is owned by Plaza REIT, a retail-focused development and redevelopment company based out of Montreal, Quebec. CEO Jason Parravano told Brockvilleist that they decided to demolish the building because it would have cost more money to re-purpose the existing structure than to simply knock it down and start anew.
Plaza REIT are also the owners of the new Loblaws No Name store located within the same plaza, which is set to open on Oct. 30.
“We’re really excited about that, bringing a grocery offering to the property,” Parravano shared. “In terms of the cinema, we looked at options for reusing the cinema building for new tenants. It’s just that those old skeletons are tough to re-purpose. So we made the decision to tear it down, and we’re going to start from scratch.”
Parravano shared that they have received a lot of interest from new potential tenants, but nothing has been set in stone.
“We have had people knocking at the door and looking at the space. We have to go through the whole site plan amendment process with the city, but our plan is to make it more part of the centre, as opposed to being an island.”
In recent weeks, Brockvilleist learned through various sources that the general impression was that the building was being torn down as part of the Highway 401 expansion project. This project seeks to widen the Stewart Boulevard corridor of Highway 401 to six and eight lanes.”Brockvilleist can now confirm that this is not the case.
Parravano clarified. “We’re not involved with that. There is an easement through the property, but we’re not in discussions with the province or with the MTO on anything. So if they’re doing something, it’s at their own discretion.”
Plaza REIT does have tentative plans for what their new build will become, but Parravano disclosed that he cannot publicly discuss these plans at this time.