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If there’s a city that could learn from Saint John’s Paramount Theatre, it’s Edmonton, which, though much larger, faces the same problem: There simply aren’t enough people living downtown.
If Edmonton’s downtown office market picks up, says Procura’s Mr. Schluessel, then the residential market might follow suit. With another 5,000 or 10,000 residential units, a cinema operator might be able to make a case to lease the property.
But, he says, “it’s very valuable land per square foot. It has a very high density allocation to it, and I don’t you think you could ever make the numbers work renting it out on its own merit.”
And where Saint John has the Imperial to make a case against restoring the Paramount across King’s Square, the resuscitation of Edmonton’s Paramount is handicapped by historic theatres operating other neighbourhoods away from downtown, like the Princess Theatre on Whyte Avenue.
On top of that, Mr. Schluessel bought the Paramount land parcel with a redevelopment plan in mind, and he simply doesn’t expect a long-term lease offer from a theatre, even if the office market stays flat.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle17199644/