New Westminster Downtown BIA, 1996
Raymond Burr Theatre feasibility study
(with Proscenium Architecture + Interiors)


The New Westminster Downtown Business Improvement Society believed that the restoration/renovation of the old Columbia Street Theatre, built in 1927 and now serving as the home of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, could create an "anchor" for other entertainment, cultural and retail uses which would attract people to the downtown in the evening hours. The challenge was to determine whether the theatre could renovated and programmed so as to operate year-round on a professionally managed, self-sustaining basis.

To answer the question, a four step process was undertaken; determine the nature of the regional market that the theatre would operate in, identify a distinctive market niche for the theatre that would allow it to compete effectively in that market, develop operating assumptions and the revenue and expense estimates to support them, and analyze range of financial results in terms of the theatre's renovated capacity.

Facts and opinions were sought and received through the distribution of a questionnaire to twenty groups, including members of the New Westminster Arts Council, and interviews with more than a dozen people involved in professional and community theatre throughout the Greater Vancouver area. The analysis indicated two things; the theatre would have to have the largest number of seats possible if it were to sell enough tickets to be economically viable and it would have to be relentlessly commercial if it were to operate without subsidy. These conclusions gave the architectural team the information they needed to develop the allocation of space and the costs for the building and provided the client with the information they needed as to whether the project could proceed. A non-profit society has been created to begin raising funds for the project.