A Vancouver-based church which combines conservative theology with a hip, hi-tech approach to church organization and worship is negotiating with the owners of the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts to buy the opulent downtown theatre, according to the lead pastor of Westside Church.
Pastor Norm Funk wrote in a March blog post on the churchs website that a purchase sales agreement has been secured with the owners of the theatre at 777 Homer St.
The theatre, which cost more than $25 million to build and opened in 1995, has hosted Broadway musicals such as Phantom of the Opera and a stream of popular entertainers including Gordon Lightfoot and Feist.
With a purchase sales agreement in hand we now move immediately into a 75-day due diligence period which allows us to get into the facility and in an intensive and extensive way evaluate whether or not finalizing the purchase of the building is feasible, prudent and God-directed, Funk wrote in the March 27 post. To be clear, Westside has not purchased the facility but is moving into a phase akin to looking at a car, looking at the sticker price and then finally test-driving the car.
More details of the agreement were not available at press time, despite messages left at Westside Church and for the owners of the theatre, who are based in Colorado.
But Funk noted in his post, which was taken down since being first posted, that three anonymous donors have donated more than one-third towards the purchase price of the theatre.
It is wondrous but not enough, and part of my role in conjunction with others, by Gods grace, is to raise more, he continued. It is our commitment that we dont walk into a situation that will hinder our current mission of making Jesus known.
The centre has been owned by Four Brothers Entertainment since 2001. The name Four Brothers is a direct reference to the four Law brothers who own the company. They are all doctors who were raised in Hong Kong before moving to the United States.
Diane Heal, vice-president of operations for the centre, declined comment and referred questions to Michael Law of Global Pacific Properties in Denver, Colo. Law is a relative of the Law brothers.
Law had not returned messages before the Couriers deadline. Debbie Buescher, vice-president of finance for Global Pacific, also declined to comment when reached by the Courier and referred calls to Law.
According to the B.C. assessment roll, the Laws purchased the Centre for $7.5 million on Dec. 27, 2001. The total value of the land and building was assessed at $9.3 million this year.
Opened in 1995, the Centre was originally named Ford Centre for Performing Arts and belonged to Garth Drabinskys chain of theatres.
Drabinskys company, Livent, ran into financial troubles and Drabinsky was later convicted of fraud and forgery for cheating shareholders. He was sentenced to five years in prison but served 18 months.
Westside Church, which has an office on West Broadway, holds it services at the Arts Clubs Granville Island Stage theatre and at the Park and Tilford Cineplex Odeon Theatre on the North Shore.
A Courier feature story on the church in May 2012 described its casual, entertaining atmosphere, hip culture and heavy use of electronic and social media. It also examined the churchs teachings against abortion, pre-marital sex, divorce and the ordination of women.
mhowell@vancourier.com
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