In a novel attempt to resurrect its economic fortunes, hard-luck St. Catharines, Ont. has chosen Toronto's Diamond and Schmitt Architects to build a new $94-million performing arts school and theatre complex in the heart of its decaying downtown.
What's unusual about the rejuvenation project is that it's being done in tandem with one of the city's major institutional citizens - Brock University.
If everything goes well, Brock will move its Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts - 500 students and faculty members - from its main campus at the city's south end to a retrofitted Canada Hair Cloth building on historic St. Paul Street in April, 2014. The historic textile factory, built in 1882, closed in 2007.
At the same time, just up the hill, the new, 150,000 sq. ft., multi-venue St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts will open. In addition to a 700-seat main theatre, the plan includes a 300-seat recital and rehearsal hall, a 200-seat cinema, and a 300-seat community dance studio. Brock also intends to move its entire commercial theatre program, about 60 events each year, to the new downtown main stage.
Diamond and Schmitt won the design competition for both projects.
The city government has been assembling land near the southwest corner of St. Paul and Carlisle Streets for a few years. To finance construction, Ottawa and Queen's Park are jointly providing $36-million for the $54-million Performing Arts Centre, while the Ontario government is contributing $26.2-million to the 104,000 sq. ft. Walker School, which has a construction budget of $39.6-million. To cover its share, Brock University aims to raise about $20-million through its current capital campaign.
Design work, under one of the architectural firm's principals, Donald Schmitt, is expected to begin immediately, although two public forums will be held this spring to solicit comment. Public presentation of the design will be made when it is complete. Moreover, the city has also established a committee of local arts community representatives, which will consult with the architects. Construction for the overall project is expected to begin by early 2012.
"The project is part of a broader initiative to use campus resources to strengthen an economy devastated by both the recent recession and the longer-term structural decline in regional manufacturing," said Kevin Cavanagh, a Brock University spokesman. Staggering layoffs in the auto industry, once a mainstay of the local economy, have rippled through dozens of area businesses.
In addition to the new arts centre and school, these ventures include the new $111-million Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, which is expected to incubate fledgling bio-tech and pharma-tech businesses, as well as a plan to move the school's Human Performance Centre to the Welland International Flatwater Centre. Being built for the 2015 Pan-American Games, it will host canoe, kayak and open-water swimming events.
One of Canada's best-known firms, Diamond and Schmitt has been involved in numerous arts-related projects, among them the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, the restored Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ont., the Burlington Centre for the Performing Arts (scheduled to open this summer) , the Montreal Concert Hall (Sept., 2011) and the Cambridge Centre for the Performing Arts, expected to break ground this summer.