The fate of the Empress Theatre in NDG has come down to two choices: a cultural centre, or a cinema.
For several months community organizations and developers have been coming up with proposals for the old building, and Tuesday night the borough was supposed to announce which group would go ahead.
The committee did not see the actual submissions at Tuesday's meeting, but did examine various criteria "on about seven or eight different optics: originality, durability, financing," said NDG councillor Peter McQueen.
He said the Cultural Centre's Analog Institute scored higher on originality, but the Cinema NDG seemed to score higher on financing and durability.
McQueen found that surprising, but pointed out that neither proposal has complete financing ready to go.
He would also like to see both groups combine their proposals.
"I mean something that's giving shows, that's got a nice green restaurant, a green roof, can also show movies," said McQueen.
One of the final two proposals includes a plan to build lofts above the theatre.
"They would be sort of short-term residences that could be used both by the neighbourhood and the city, but also by the cultural components in terms of artists in residence and visiting performers," said architect Talia Dorsey.
Longtime councillor Marvin Rotrand says it's still too early for him to decide on the best option for the Empress , but he would be willing to look at something other than just the arts.
"If that meant some group came to us and said 'look you know we have a partial housing project and partial community space project,' I would be open to that," said Rotrand.
However borough mayor Michael Applebaum said he only wants a non-profit corporation running the aged Art Deco building.
"We're not saying that people can come with zoning changes and build condos above that," said Applebaum.
Borough officials have deferred their decision until at least October.
