Rio Theatre site put up for sale, but operator Corinne Lea emphasizes that she has an eight-year lease
An East Side cultural landmark near the corner of East Broadway and Commercial Drive has been put on the market.
Leonard Schein has listed the Rio Theatre property for sale. However, the operator of the business, Corinne Lea, points out that she has eight years remaining on her lease.
"I want to reassure you all that the Rio is not going anywhere as long as we have anything to say about it!" Lea said in a statement on the Rio Theatre's Facebook page. "Yes its true The Rio property is for sale and is in danger of being developed and turned into a multiplex. But we have plans to buy it, so we can save it from being torn down."
The multimedia business is more than a single-screen theatre, as it also hosts concerts, comedy peformances, burlesque events, and fashion shows.
The CBRE listing describes the 80-year-old Rio Theatre as a "high density residential development site" that's just steps from the Commercial-Broadway transit hub. It notes that there is "strong assembly potential" with adjacent properties.
The Rio Theatre is part of a 6,350-square-foot property on a 50' by 127' lot. No price is disclosed in the listing.
Lea stated on Facebook that her business had record sales last year and on May 1, it will celebrate a 10th-anniversary party.
"As you may already know the zoning has changed in this area so property values have gone way up," Lea stated in her post. "Our current landlord is happy to sell us the property at Market value but that has become very $$$. So in order for us to buy the property we need a lot more money than we currently have! But we're working on it! Long live The Rio Theatre!!"
It's conceivable that if there is a rezoning application, Vancouver city council could impose a condition that the new owner retain an entertainment venue like the Rio on the site in exchange for higher density.
Council did not impose that requirement when the Ridge Theatre site was redeveloped several years ago into a condo and supermarket project near the corner of West 16th Avenue and Arbutus Street.
Coincidentally, Schein owned the Ridge Theatre before it closed in 2013. That came after the entire real-estate complex was purchased by a developer.
In 2012, Schein spoke out in support of the Rio Theatre when it was in a battle with provincial liquor authorities. At the time, regulators wanted to prevent the Rio from screening films after it had received a licence to serve alcohol.
Public pressure and the efforts of Schein and then Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan helped persuade the B.C. Liberal government to reverse its stance and keep the theatre open.
“I’ve been operating movie theatres in Vancouver for 33 years now," Schein told the Straight in 2012 in the midst of this fight, "and the movie theatre business has really changed over that 33 years. We’ve had a number of single-screen theatres go out of business because of the economics with high property tax and the competition with multiplexes."
Nowadays, Schein is focusing a great deal of time on philanthropy and supporting environmental causes. He's chair and president of Ecojustice and a year ago, he joined the board of the Pembina Institute, which focuses on solutions to the climate crisis. He also chairs the Coast Mental Health Foundation board and is a director of the Canadian Cancer Prevention Centre Foundation and other health-related organizations.
Other independent theatres that have closed in recent years include the Denman Place Cinema, Collingwood Cinema, and the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver, and the Dolphin Theatres in Burnaby.
Empire Granville 7 Cinemas also shut down in 2012. That created challenges for various film festivals, which had used these theatres as venues for screenings.
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