MONTREAL -- After sitting abandoned for years, the first steps have been taken towards figuring out what will become of NDG's Empress Theatre.
Built in the 1920s, the Empress –later known as Cinema 5—was severely damaged in a fire. Closed for decades, the building has slipped into disrepair.
Filmmaker Scott Macleod recorded a music video in the Empress a decade ago and described a sad scene.
“It was fairly moldy and collapsing. There's water coming in from the roof,” he said. “It's on the verge of being dangerous, I would say.”
But Cote-des-Neiges-NDG Mayor Sue Montgomery believes the building can be revitalized.
“We want to create something here that's going to inject life into this part of the neighbourhood of Sherbrooke,” she said.
Montgomery laid out a vision that would see the Empress turned into a mix of affordable housing, community group space and a commercial area on the ground floor.
High hopes, but the Empress has had its fair share of those over the years. Other efforts to revive the Empress have collapsed.
“We managed to get a lot of pieces in place, but we never managed to get them all in place,” said former Empress Cultural Centre board member Peter Macauslan. “I guess that's why it never worked.”
A recent structural report revealed the interior of the Empress is filled with mould and parts of the exterior are at risk of collapsing, but Montgomery maintained a positive tone.
“This time we actually have a solid partnership with the Societe Habitation de Montreal and they have the money to do this project,” she said.
Consultations will continue until December with Montgomery saying she believes demolition can begin as early as the spring.
