You know that feeling you get when you leave a movie, play or concert and think, “That was OK, but it could have been so much better?”
That’s how I’ve always felt about the proposed site for Barrie’s long-awaited performing arts centre, re-dubbed the community cultural hub in the most recent city staff reports and scheduled to open sometime in the next decade.
The former Barrie Central Collegiate site on Dunlop Street West isn’t terrible. Certainly a new 65,000-square-foot facility on the old Barrie Central site would meet most of the city’s programming needs, with 350- and 900-seat theatres, plus a 5,000-sq.-ft. multi-purpose room and offices for local cultural organizations.
But the site is less-than-ideal in many other aspects, especially when it comes to the stated goal of having “the necessary elements to be a strong economic driver in the future development of the downtown area.”
Sorry, but the old Barrie Central site is not really downtown. It’s only “kind of” downtown.
To be an economic driver, people going to the theatre, including tourists, would have dinner at a nearby restaurant before the show or have drinks nearby after.
Maybe they’d browse in one of the shops. There is almost nothing around the proposed site which fits this description and there isn’t likely to be anything for many years, if ever.
The reality is, because of the proposed location, most people are going to drive to the theatre, take in a show and then drive home. Where’s the incentive to get in the car and drive a few blocks to the downtown after a show? And the idea that they are going to stroll around the area, especially on a cold February night, stretches all credibility.
What if the theatre was centrally located in the downtown? Say, a repurposed former theatre, an approach taken by several other Ontario communities in need of a performing arts centre.
The former Roxy Theatre is in the heart of the downtown, at 46 Dunlop St. W. Opened in 1931, it saw life as a 700-seat movie theatre for almost 50 years before becoming The Roxx nightclub and then Mavricks Music Hall.
As far as I know, the venue has been sitting empty since the start of the pandemic. (There's currently a 'for lease' notice on one of the marquees.)
It’s still a magnificent building on the outside, one of the few Barrie buildings with an art deco influence.
I haven’t been inside for a number of years but, the last time I was there, it was recognizable as a theatre, complete with balconies. Even the ticket booth near the front door was still present.
Of course, the city doesn’t own the property, one reason the former Barrie Central site has been attractive. But the city could get a fair price in selling the former Barrie Central land.
And the building would need major renovations. Fortunately, there is a lot of underused land directly behind and around the former Roxy Theatre for a needed expansion to accompany additional seats, the fly system, dressing rooms, etc.
Would it save money? That’s hard to tell. As any homeowner knows, sometimes it’s cheaper to renovate, sometimes it’s cheaper to build from scratch. The cost of building new on the old Barrie Central site was most recently estimated at $53 million.
But the advantages to updating the old Roxy Theatre would be numerous. As mentioned, the location would certainly lend itself to people strolling through the area before and after the show, shopping and dining at the nearby stores and restaurants or perhaps the year-round market planned right across the road, at the site of the current Barrie Transit Terminal. From there, visitors would be exposed to Barrie’s magnificent waterfront.
And unlike the former Barrie Central location, where hundreds of parking spaces would have to be built, not a single additional space would be needed. There are already hundreds of spaces within a block or two, most of them sitting empty much of the time, especially at night and on weekends when the theatre would be busiest. The underused Collier Street Parkade is less than three blocks away.
And restoring the former Roxy Theatre would send a strong message that Barrie is interested in preserving its built heritage, something for which it is routinely criticized.
Is it possible? It would be nice to know.
Barry Ward is a veteran editor and journalist who also served on Barrie city council for 22 years. His column appears regularly on BarrieToday.
