{"id":162839,"date":"2018-05-06T05:17:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T09:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=162839"},"modified":"2018-05-06T05:17:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T09:17:12","slug":"beloved-vancouver-theatre-one-step-closer-to-being-saved-after-mortgage-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/06\/beloved-vancouver-theatre-one-step-closer-to-being-saved-after-mortgage-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Vancouver theatre one step closer to being saved after mortgage approval"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The operators of one of Vancouver’s last independent movie theatres say they’re a step closer to saving the property from development after being approved for a mortgage to buy the beloved cinema. (Photo<\/a>: Rio Theatre\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2014 The operators of one of Vancouver’s last independent movie theatres say they’re a step closer to saving the property from development after being approved for a mortgage to buy the beloved cinema.<\/p>\n

Corrine Lea said she’s optimistic about the Rio Theatre’s future after receiving the news from Vancity credit union earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a huge relief to be able to give everyone the good news and say that the mortgage has been approved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Zoning changes in the area attracted developers who wanted to tear down the 80-year-old east Vancouver theatre for a new project, Lea said previously.<\/p>\n

In February, she announced that the cinema’s operators had put in a multi-million-dollar offer to purchase the Rio, a venue beloved for running independent films and hosting burlesque, comedy, improv and variety shows.<\/p>\n

A months-long fundrasing campaign has already brought in more than $500,000 for a deposit on the property and garnered support from a variety of entertainers, including filmmaker Kevin Smith, actor Ryan Reynolds and Vancouver-born Finn Wolfhard, the 15-year-old star of \u201cStranger Things\u201d and \u201cIt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact purchase price has never been revealed, but Lea has said it’s above the property’s $4.3-million assessed value.<\/p>\n

Lea said on Saturday that she’s been working on securing the mortgage for about a month and the final approval comes just before a May 7 deadline for finalizing the sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, I was really biting my nails in the last couple of days because if they turned us down and said no, I would have had very little time to find another option,\u201d she said, adding that she was cautious about the cinema’s future until the mortgage was approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the closest that we’ve been to reaching our goal. And I can see the finish line. And it feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Lea is set to remove subjects on the deal. Then she and her business partner will have 60 days to come up with the $3-million deposit.<\/p>\n

Lea said investors have vowed to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the deposit, but the operators are still looking to raise about $800,000.<\/p>\n

A new campaign is in the works that will allow people who aren’t accredited investors to purchase shares in the theatre, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been such a huge, amazing community team effort. So I think it’ll be such a huge opportunity,\u201d Lea said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve all seen so many stories about another beloved Vancouver space gone, another business shut down. And so to just realize that we can make a difference and that this is a good news story, everyone was really wanting to see that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 The operators of one of Vancouver’s last independent movie theatres say they’re a step closer to saving the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":162840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[50655],"class_list":["post-162839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-rio-theatre","mauthors-gemma-karstens-smith","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}