World Exchange Cinema Closure
 

Too bad, I've always enjoyed going here despite the smaller size. Had a good mix of movies. Not sure they will be able to find anyone else to take their place, especially since they've already been talking about converting to other uses.

This seems to run counter to the city's desire to have more people living downtown through intensification. After all, if you want downtown living to be desirable, you need entertainment options, like cinemas.

Agreed. Finding new operators for World Exchange, Rideau Centre and other cinemas in the Centretown/ByWard/Lowertown core neighbourhoods is a priority. The city government recognizes that, to their credit. The relevant business players, though, don't seem inclined to co-operate with reality so far.

It's absolutely insane that both downtown theatres closed in the last year, while such a push (with results) was going on for downtown intensification.

Hell, for the large part of the last century every town in the country with a population over 10,000 had a theatre in its downtown.

If the city was that interested in keeping a theatre downtown, they wouldn't have allowed a new theatre to be built at Lansdowne, given that in the theatre business, theatres must be far enough apart to get movies licences. There could've been other entertainment options for Lansdowne -- paintball, laser tag, live theatre, mini carnival, etc.

It's getting harder to find anything downtown that isn't a starbucks, shoppers, pub or cupcake store.

Sears is gone, Zellers is gone, crappy tire is long gone, both first run movie theatres are now gone, tommy and lefabre is going, I wonder if the Bay and Giant Tiger aren't far behind.

I don't know which is the chicken and which is the egg (i.e. are downtown residents choosing to drive/bus to suburban box stores and screwing urban stores or is the closing the urban stores forcing downtown residents into the burbs.

I understand why the theatre business doesn't allow the same movies in the same area, but considering the small sizes of the 3 cinema installations (that show new releases) and the high population density, you'd think they could allow it. Maybe even have one cinema showing movies that just came out on video, like Rainbow Cinemas or Starz Cité.

That said, laser tag would have been awesome at Lansdowne!

I think it's a shame now because the demand for these are only going to grow stronger.

Yes in the CBD TODAY there arent A LOT of condo towers or residents living there full time but with the 2 Tribeca towers, Soho Lisgar, Gotham, Slater, Cathedral Hill etc.. theres only going to be more and more people living there so if these people are moving there to be close to everything, something's missing... They won't want to walk or drive to Landsdowne or Silvercity Gloucester.. So much for a lively downtown..

Or I guess they will all just stay home and watch Netflix... :shrug:

World Exchange plaza cinema:
Silvia Logan:
December 22, 2013

It is ridiculous that you are closing down the World Exchange plaza cinemas. Why can't the Rainbow or CineStarz take over that movie theatre and show second run movies? You can also call it the Bytowne Plaza in which it shows Hollywood movies. If you do not want to reopen the World Exchange Plaza cinemas, open one at the Rideau centre expansion.

My thoughts exactly. Obviously two megaplexes being that close would be stupid, but a smaller one serving Centretown and those in Hintonburg/Lowertown/Sandy Hill doesn't seem like overkill - just reasonable planning.

It always seems like we just can't have nice things in Ottawa. A first-rate, first-run downtown movie theatre is just the latest example. And it's embarrassing.

That said, a modern, expanded movie theatre will very likely be part of the Rideau Centre expansion. I remember going through the plans on the city's website, and recall seeing a movie theatre slated for the top floor of the new section of the mall (where the old Ogilvy's building stood). I imagine it would be adjacent to and incorporate the old cinema.

Problem is, even if this thing does get built, it's a couple of years away.

You'd be amazed how many people drive from central neighbourhoods to Silver City.

Are we converting downtown from a business hub into a residential area? It is a bit ironic that as condos boom, businesses continue to leave. Sparks Street has been dying a lingering death for years, there is concern of the business mix in the market, Rideau Street has suffered ever since the Rideau Centre opened, the Rideau Centre itself is expanding but in the meantime has significant boarded up areas.

The need for local services such as grocery stores and drug stores is growing but the type of businesses that will attract people from across the city is declining. Has the critical mass of destination retailers reached the point that downtown is no longer the 'go to' place? Despite the Rideau Centre plans, I would say yes.

It wasn't that long ago that all the movie theatres were in the older parts of the city with the exception of drive-ins.

I believe this is a reflection of declining accessibility of downtown. Limited and expensive parking, congested and overcrowded (often very overcrowded) buses, and a future stubway that will make access from the hinterlands of the city worse, not better.

The disappearance of the last first run movie theatre downtown is something that has to concern us. It is the canary in the mine. It is a reflection of the health of downtown, and the desirability of downtown as the meeting place of the city.

I'm one of them... it's only about a 10 minute drive from my place in Sandy Hill to Silvercity, versus a 15 minute walk to World Exchange... feeling a little guilty atm! :runaway:

In my lifetime I have seen substantial changes downtown. We have made many errors. What seemed at the time to good ideas, were disasters. The bus mall of the 80s killed Rideau Street. I believe the disjointed system of indoor malls in downtown buildings were poorly thought out and ultimately did not work. Place Bell, Place de Ville, 240 Sparks Street, World Exchange. Almost, every new building went up without a street presence. They all sucked pedestrians off the street. We replaced retailers on Sparks Street with buildings that looked nice but would not attract shoppers. The Rideau Centre sucked the life out of everything else. There is no Yonge Street, no Ste. Catherine Street. What could have been has been botched so badly that it will be almost impossible to correct without some major public oriented development that will attract the masses back to downtown. What could that be?

I suspect parking issues are quite key to the problem. I think if the city pushed developers building much harder on parking requirements it would a) increase the amount and b) push prices down somewhat.

The other thing downtown is we seem to have a problem creating stuff that is on a big enough scale. We keep getting crappy versions of everything as we don't built big enough. The theatre was small, the stores are small.

When someone tries to build something bigger we people screaming it's big box or chain or whatever (ie Lansdowne). The thing is big box stores attract tons of people. That is why they are called anchor tenants. Other stores then locate nearby and draft off of their clientele.

I find the trouble with Rideau Centre now is that too many of the stores are becoming to high end. There is nothing wrong with high end but there needs to be some regular everyday stores. Sears was that before. I find the mall really lacks these days. I am finding myself going less and less. Part of the problem is they closed far too much before getting the new portion further along. Ideally they would have built the new wing and then moved to renovate the older part.

I never found parking a problem for movies at World Exchange. It's free at night and on weekends and there's less congestion since the CBD is fairly dead at night compared to the suburban movie parking lots. But I'd agree with teej1984 that when going to see a movie with friends it's more likely we'll take the short drive to Silver City than walk downtown because it is a modern theatre. Maybe downtown needs something like the Scotiabank and Yonge-Dundas theatres in Toronto. I remember seeing something about a space for a movie theatre in the Rideau Centre future plans, but I'd have to look back to confirm.

The elimination of surface lots has greatly improved the appearacne of downtown but they have been replaced with underground garages that seem to be oriented to workers and not shoppers. I recall the parking garage that stood between Albert and Queen and just west of Metcalfe, where the World Exchange now stands. The parking was affordable and was directed towards Sparks Street shoppers. Likewise, Ogilvy's had its own parking lot on Besserer Street. As those lots disappeared, so did the shoppers.

The trouble with parking garages is that to someone just driving by they are hard to spot (who designs a building with a garage entrances as the focus...nor should they) and also it is difficult to tell which ones are open to the public, rates, etc...all when you are in potentially busy traffic.

Even stuff like World Exchange that are free are not widely known. The sign that says so is basically all the way down the ramp. And even worse their new system where you still need a ticket (rather than the gate is up on the weekend system) has made things even more confusing. You feel like you are entering a secret place only understood by a select few :)

There's a simple solution to the stubway problem.

Extend it.

But Ottawans are cheap, small-minded, idiots.