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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Curtain finally rising on the Met makeover

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 09/23/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Canad Inns has begun renovating and redeveloping the old Metropolitan Theatre, closed since 1987. (BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

THE long-awaited restoration and redevelopment of downtown's historic Metropolitan Theatre is finally underway.

A work crew began cleaning the exterior brickwork on the 90-year-old Donald Street building Monday as part of Phase 1 of the project.

Over the next couple of months, workers will be cleaning and repairing the exterior bricks, installing new glass in the windows, stripping off the old paint and returning the facade to its original glory, said Loretta Martin, spokeswoman for CentreVenture Development Corp., the city's downtown development agency.

Martin said Phase 2 will involve restoration and redevelopment of the interior, the demolition of a one-storey building on the south side of the theatre and construction of an addition there.

She said the building's owner, the Canad Inns hotel chain, has not yet submitted its final plans for the Phase 2 work, "but by Oct. 5 or 6 we should have a timeline for everything... and the details of what they're going to do."

Canad Inns CEO Taras Sokolyk said the final details are still being worked out, partly because the situation is constantly changing.

"I know it's taken a ton of time... but as we dig deeper into the building, we find some unique things that we want to save or find some additional things need to be replaced," he said.

The Winnipeg-based company purchased the Met from CentreVenture in 2006 for $100,000. Renovations to the building, which has sat empty since 1987, originally were supposed to get underway before the end of 2007 and be completed by June this year.

But that never happened, and in an interview last March, Canada Inns president and chairman Leo Ledohowski said the revised plans were to begin the work this past spring.

When that also didn't happen, rumblings began to surface last month that CentreVenture officials were thinking of taking back the building. However, Canad Inns issued a statement saying the work would start within a few weeks.

"We're very pleased to see it underway," Martin said.

In the interview last March, Ledohowski said Canad Inns plans to remove the theatre seats and convert the theatre into a "super supper club" featuring food, beverages and entertainment. It will also cater to some special events, such as high school grads and fundraising dinners, and may operate one night a week as a nightclub.

He also said he expected the project to cost more than $10 million. Canad Inns said last month it has already spent $500,000 on interior renovations.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 23, 2009 B5

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