Deal reached for sale of The Gladstone
Peter Robb, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: October 6, 2015 | Last Updated: October 6, 2015 11:55 AM EDT
A deal has been reached to conclude a sale of The Gladstone theatre building by Oct. 31 to a property management company.
David Whitely, of Plosive Productions, says he has signed a lease to continue managing the theatre as a performing arts space for the next three years. The lease takes effect Nov. 1 and it has an option to renew, something Whitely expects will happen.
The buyer of the property at 910 Gladstone Ave. is The Property Group Ltd.
Plosive Productions, a locally based professional theatre company, has been leasing and operating the property near Preston Street as an arts venue for the past few years. In addition to mounting its own productions, Plosive has been subletting the space to other theatre companies and artists. That will continue.
“The Gladstone will stay The Gladstone,” Whitely says. “It will keep its name and remain a live venue with theatre as its primary mandate.
“That’s not to say it won’t grow and evolve — I expect a wider diversity of live performances, and other arts uses such as a home for summer performing arts camps. But it will stay The Gladstone we know and love, and it will thrive.
“The new owner is committed to this — indeed, is requiring of us as tenants that we keep it as The Gladstone — but is otherwise giving Plosive as the tenant full freedom to run it as we see fit. And Plosive, for its part, now in our fifth year of co-ordinating The Gladstone’s shared use as a performance space for local theatre companies to share, is as committed as ever to continuing (and further growing) this tradition, and preserving this cultural gem.”
Whitely says he is “over the moon” that a deal has been reached and the future of the property is no longer in doubt.
“As a creator, I’ve always been conscious of the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads.”
He is optimistic for the future of The Gladstone, which he says has seen rapid growth over the last four years in the number of performances and in attendance.
“As The Gladstone grows, I expect we’ll see some exciting growth of companies currently producing here. We’ve replaced our old September-May model of leasing with year-round leasing, so there’s a whole summer season to welcome new companies into the fold. I’m very encouraged that City of Ottawa staff have taken the initiative to ask me to meet with them later this week.
“The Gladstone is unique in Canada as a shared space for theatre artists, but so far we’ve invented this model flying by the seat of our pants. As The Gladstone continues to grow, we will need a bigger, better infrastructure to keep this model running smoothly for years to come.”
The Gladstone‘s future as an arts venue was in question when the former owner Steve Martin listed it for sale for $995,000 in July.
That property started life as a truck repair garage and in the 1980s became the home of the Great Canadian Theatre Company. In 2007, GCTC moved to the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre on Wellington Street, and Martin bought the old theatre.
He poured $1 million into renovations, but revenue was lower than expected and he found himself in debt. Martin listed the theatre for $1.5 million in 2010 but it didn’t sell.
When it went up for sale again this past summer, bidders included a local arts consortium led by Chris White, a CKCU host and former artistic director of the Ottawa Folk Festival.
At present Alan Ayckbourn’s, The Norman Conquests, is running at the theatre. For tickets and information: thegladstone.ca
http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainme...-the-gladstone
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