Ehh just restore the facade and make it back to what it used to be. Probably easier overall.

No doubting the initial undertaking was indeed complicated, but it has been several years.

Definitely not as hands-free as the Jamesville Lofts.

Even the realtor seems to have given up on this one, and 4.5 years in, the website is just as helpful.

this. Buildings on fi iiiire...

Paul Wilson: Time ticks on for Tivoli. Future is fragile for theatre that brought talkies to town
The Tivoli still stands, but without a spotlight. Despite promises of a spectacular rebirth, it sits in the shadows. Silence reigns. The theatre is now on the city heritage committee’s red list — properties under “perceived immediate threat.”

https://www.thespec.com/living-story...lkies-to-town/

Sixty-five years ago today, Hamilton mayor Lloyd D. Jackson went to the movies.

It wasn't some Oscar contender at the Tivoli, James North on Aug. 20, 1954. It was "Just Living It Up," yet another comedy from Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.

But it was a night to remember all the same. TV was slipping into living rooms everywhere, and the big movie houses had to up their game. To that end, the Tivoli had just finished spending what would be $2.5 million today to dress the place up.

To celebrate, the mayor did an official reopening and CKOC broadcast the ceremony.

The Tivoli still stands, but the spotlight does not shine there now. Despite promises of a spectacular rebirth, it sits in the shadows. Silence reigns. The theatre is now on the city heritage committee's red list — properties under "perceived immediate threat."

Investments at the Tivoli in that summer of '54 included 1,300 flashing lights on the marquee, auditorium walls covered in silk damask, the first pushback seats in the city.

It was among the top 10 of the 110 Famous Players theatres in the country — and had as much history as any of them.

On Feb. 1, 1926, the Tivoli brought talkies to town. Back then, only two other theatres in Canada had sound. Through the decades, Hamiltonians kept queuing out front. They often dressed up to do so. And why not? It was grand in there.

And it was big — more than 1,000 seats. But that became a liability. Multiplexes at the mall were taking over.

The end came Sept. 28, 1989. The show was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." I was there, sharing that grand, ghostly space with 42 others. I counted. By the time we filed outside, someone had already put CLOSED on the marquee.

Sam "The Record Man" Sniderman then owned the place for a time. He was interested in the property next door for a record store and hadn't even been inside the Tivoli before the purchase.

When he did see the interior, he had this to say: "We were floored. It's a finer theatre than the Royal Alex. The chandeliers, the statues, the velvet. When you walk through that door, you walk into a fairyland."

After that, the Tivoli was used for concerts, religious services, live theatre, dance. But neglect exacted a hard price, and the city had to step in and tear down the lobby portion from James Street to the auditorium.

In 2013 Hamilton developer Domenic Diamante bought the Tivoli for about $900,000 from a charitable ballet ensemble run by his wife. He announced a plan to erect a 22-storey condo out front, right on James. He would fix the theatre and connect it to the new tower.

That kind of height was a big ask. But Jason Farr, councillor for the downtown ward, convinced the other politicians it made sense. And he brought them onside by adding a condition: no one would be moving into that condo tower before the theatre was completely restored.

Six years after that purchase, no sign of movement. A tattered banner announcing the Tivoli Condos hangs over the theatre.

Farr is deeply disappointed. That tall-tower approval doesn't expire, he says, and it is transferable. He wonders if someone else should now step up. "From time to time, you hear from movers and shakers who've accomplished things."

It takes a while, but we do make contact with Diamante, just south of Salt Lake City. He's on a bucket-list trip of the American Southwest. He's 75, and knows time's a wasting on the Tivoli. He knows people wonder.

He declares this project is not dead, just delayed. He says the soil has some contaminants and the cleanup plan from the province is taking a long time to arrive.

But that kind of challenge is not unheard of. Has Diamante built a tower before? No, he says, "but the men who went to the moon had not been there before … And we're working with people who know how to build a 22-storey tower."

Project completion — perhaps four years away.

The value of that land has surely increased. At this stage of the game, why not just sell?

Not happening, Diamante says, because "this is a legacy project for me. If someone gave me a ridiculous amount of money, maybe I could be tempted. But I have not been tempted yet."

What a crock.

Not to be crude but they need to sh** or get off the pot. :runaway:

I'm not even sure saving the Tivoli is a priority for me anymore...

Im going to try to stay optimistic. It really does eat me up inside to see this beauty relegated to the shadows, (and I too am upset that the developer doesnt seem to want to touch the damn thing) but the fact that we have it at all is something to be thankful for.

In the news: still no news.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...atre-1.6111392

"Despite appearances, the project has not stalled"

https://i.imgflip.com/18buy3.jpg

Nearly 13 years on from this story that began the thread... and 17 since the big sale! (according to the CBC story, not what's below... then there was the suspect 'flip' a mere 7 years ago)

I've highlighted a few lines that would be funny if they weren't so sad to read, given the situation.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see the building collapse or burn on purp... er, "accidentally" before anything happens.

It's a shame this theatre just sits there, and with how neat the lobby was, that's a quasi crime that the record man himself let that happen. Ah well, one great memory: seeing Godspeed You Black Emperor for free in March 2003 via a band member, and watching the ceiling shake and thinking, that doesn't seem like a good thing. I suppose that was foreshadowing. Personally I'd like to see it restored, because it would be a great mid sized music venue.

Photo from that show

https://live.staticflickr.com/103/27...fb76a8d8_c.jpg

They should have their @$$es taxed off as an incentive to act.

"Despite appearances, the project has not stalled"


https://media1.giphy.com/media/1AIeY...6juu/giphy.gif

"Despite appearances, I'm actually losing weight!"

I believe they are just fishing for a partner that has the money to build the building as they most likely do not have much themselves!

Are they going door-to-door? It's been 15 years! ;)

Final nail in the coffin?

CBC:
Delays in developing the Tivoli Theatre condo project lead to loss of $3M grant

(sorry, it helps when you actually paste the URL and not just the story header)

Here's the text:

Delays in developing the Tivoli Theatre condo project lead to loss of $3M grant
The ERASE grant provides tax deferrals for projects that start within 5 years

Saira Peesker
CBC News
Jul 29, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...rant-1.6121042

The redevelopment of the historic Tivoli Theatre has taken so long that a grant worth more than $3 million in tax deferrals has expired, says the City of Hamilton.

The project, which is to include a 22-storey condo tower over the restored theatre, got city council approval for a $3,002,400 ERASE grant on July 8, 2016. But the city's communications department says the grant expires if construction hasn't started five years after approval, a date that passed earlier this month.

ERASE, which stands for Environmental Remediation and Site Enhancement, is a program "designed to 'erase' brownfields by providing financial incentives to clean them up and replace them with productive economic land uses," says the city's Invest in Hamilton website.

The developers of the Tivoli, Diamante Investments, say they have completed environmental work there already, but the city says that alone is not enough to qualify for the grant.

"Environmental work is not construction work," said city spokesperson Michelle Shantz on Tuesday. "This is not applicable as a start date for construction."

The owners of the long-idle theatre on James Street North recently told CBC that they need help developing the site into a condo tower and are looking for a business partner.

They also said they're still looking for a contractor to restore the theatre. Berardo Diamante said the family business will submit for site plan approval in the coming months.

When asked this week about the grant's expiry, he said Tuesday he believed the company had done enough work to remain eligible for the tax deferral.

"Basically, the development did start because we did the environmental work," he said.

However, on Thursday evening he emailed CBC to say his team was aware of the deadline and planned to apply again.

"Our risk assessment approval took roughly two years," he said, referring to a Ministry of the Environment-required step in the process. "We wanted to ensure the ground was environmental clean before we went ahead with other aspects of the project."

In the earlier phone call, Diamante noted that the city isn't up to date on what has gone on at the site.

Not up to speed
That aspect is not in dispute, says the city's senior project manager for urban renewal, Phil Caldwell.

He said the property owner has not kept him "up to speed" on several issues, including the remediation activities that have taken place; what remediation remains to be completed for the planned redevelopment; what changes to the remediation plan from 2016 will be required (if any) as a result of the delay in the site's development (including updated cost estimates); and any changes with respect to the planned building for the site.

"Once we have that information, we can work with the property owner to identify a potential path forward to bring that updated information to city council for consideration of renewed financial assistance," Caldwell said on Tuesday.

Coun. Jason Farr, whose Ward 2 includes the theatre on James Street North, said it's hard to guess what will happen next with this long-delayed development.

"I engaged early on with this project, the proponents and the community," he said.

Declined offer to buy the building
"Here we are, years later, with only fancy drawings and a council permission to save heritage and build a building. At this point, I am reluctant to predict what they will do or how an expired application may affect them."

Supercrawl director Tim Potocic, who owns several commercial buildings near the Tivoli, says he tried to buy the theatre from the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble (CBYE) in 2012. He says he wanted to build a 500-person venue there, but his offer was declined.

That was two years before the ballet company's CEO Belma Diamante sold the building to her husband's development company, which owns it today.

Potocic says he was last in the building about a year and a half ago, and it "looked pretty bad. There was one complete wall section 20- to 30 feet long that had completely collapsed and was just rubble on the ground. As every year goes by, it becomes a more expensive renovation project.

"Maybe it's so far gone now that it's not doable, which (would be) a really horrible circumstance."

Your link is broken :)

I'm gonna file that one under f*ck around and find out. Hopefully a more qualified owner can get this thing off the ground in the next decade.