A Hole in the Heart

An empty lot in Vancouver’s downtown beckons development, draws controversy

By Adam Stewart

Block 10 is like a missing tooth in the middle of Vancouver’s vital downtown core.
 
In stark contrast to the condos, restaurants and banks that surround it, it’s an empty 40,000 square foot blot of land scattered with swirling debris, patches of moss, empty beer cans and bottles, cigarette packs and butts and discarded auto parts. It’s surrounded by a cyclone fence, with barbed wire on top and the north side pushed down. While the growing vibrancy of downtown Vancouver blossoms around it, Block 10 does only one thing: it waits.
 
Kitty corner to Esther Short Park and surrounded by shops, restaurants, banks and condominiums, it’s prime real estate. Something needs to come along and fill that space and help further the ongoing revitalization of downtown Vancouver. Something, for instance, like a 1500-seat performing arts center—just like the one the Southwest Washington Center for the Arts has been trying to find a home for.
 
Since its formation in 2003, the Southwest Washington Center for the Arts (SWCA) has been lobbying to build a performing arts center in Vancouver. They have considered several sites, including privately owned riverfront property and the campus of Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV).
 
Now Block 10 has caught SWCA’s attention.
 
“I think it’s a shame that we’re the only city in the Pacific Northwest [...] that doesn’t have its own cultural icon,” said Val Ogden, chair of the SWCA.
 
“Performing arts centers often are real catalysts for growth in the area,” said Arlene Johnson, Executive Director for the SWCA.
 
The proposed center would be a multi-purpose facility featuring a 1500-seat auditorium that would be open to everything from concerts to weddings, graduations to church functions, lectures to ballet recitals—in short, events for organizations that have been clamoring to reserve space in high school auditoriums and churches all over Vancouver until now.
 
In addition to the main theater, it would include a black box theater and an art gallery. There would also be two condominium towers for residents and businesses. The profits from rent would go straight into the maintenance of the performing arts center. Realvest Corp., a condominium manufacturer, would be responsible for the building of the facility, and it would donate its profit from the sales of the condominium to the performing arts center. Paul Christensen, owner of Realvest, is a member of SWCA.
 
Clearly SWCA has got the drive, the contractors, and an excellent shot at raising the money. It would appear as though all they require is the green light.
 
That might be the tricky part.
 
As of now, SWCA is working with city planners, trying to put the block on hold for two years. If they succeed, they will spend the time raising the $50 million to build the facility from private investors.
 
“I don’t think the city’s particularly supportive (of holding Block 10,)” said Jan Bader, program and policy development manager for Vancouver. “We don’t want to lock ourselves into holding that property if some other appropriate use for that space comes up.”
 
Bader also expressed some concerns about the feasibility of such a project. She said performance venues tend to run in the red and the revenue earned from condo sales cannot be relied upon, especially considering the currently shaky housing market.
 
In the past, Vancouver has made attempts to fill Block 10 with corporate headquarters for large businesses.
 
According to a recent preliminary draft of a feasibility report on the performing arts center, the estimated annual operating expenses are expected to be between $1.8 million and $1.9 million. The report stated that about 35 to 50 percent of the funding would be paid by an operation endowment, including the dedicated profit of condo sales. Rental of the facilities and outside donations would also help cover the costs.
 
“I would love to see (SWCA) be successful and carry this off,” said Bader. “I think there’s just a lot of doubt about the ability to pull this off.”
 
According to Ogden, such a facility downtown would be worth the effort. “If we want something that’s going to be active and add to the vitality of downtown, an office building doesn’t do it.”
 
One thing is for sure: there wouldn’t be a shortage of performing arts groups lined up to perform at such a facility. According to Connie Platt, community services coordinator for the Vancouver School District, Vancouver’s small venues are overflowing with arts groups.
 
“I know that we have many groups that we’re not able to take care of because we’re so overbooked in our three auditoriums,” said Platt.
 
Platt said Vancouver schools host about 4,000 annual contracts for after-hours use of the buildings. She said the use of school auditoriums is restricted by school hours, and that outside instructional use can be problematic for classrooms. Also, any outside performances would take secondary priority behind school events.
 
Some groups that would seem on the surface to be a good fit for such a facility include the Washington State Ballet, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, New Blue Parrot Theater, Tears of Joy Puppet Theater and the Christian Youth Center, which at one time performed a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” for over 1,000 spectators.
 
Janet Bradley, managing director and co-founder of the Tears of Joy, said that she would love for her organization to become resident performers if a performing arts center is built in Vancouver, and also that her preference would be for the facility to be located downtown.
 
“If there’s a space that groups can rent and do performances in,” she said, “they can expand their audiences and there will be an explosion of art in Vancouver.”
 
Functioning mostly in Portland, Tears of Joy once had about a third of their resident performances in Vancouver, mostly at the Columbia Arts Center, which has been closed for nearly ten years. Now only about five percent of their performances are here in town.
 
But while Bradley would love to bring performances back to Vancouver, she’s unsure of the proposed performing arts center’s capability to fill the 1500-seat theater on a regular basis. Tears of Joy has its eye on the black box theater, but whether it would suit their specific needs will only be clear once the plans for the building have been finalized.

“I would love to be in Vancouver,” said Bradley, “but if my option is a 100-seat black box [...] it just depends.” 
Should Block 10 become unavailable, the next most likely candidate for a new performing arts center will be the Washington State University campus in Salmon Creek. The center would be in partnership with the college, which would pay for its upkeep.
 
“We’re in a wait-and-see mode,” said Bruce Romanish, vice chancellor of academic affairs at WSUV. “[We’ll] explore our level of interest and responsiveness.”
 
The effort is now in fresh hands. In the next couple of months, much of the original SWCA board will have been replaced. Certain members, including Val Ogden, have nonetheless stayed on to help guide the possible future of the performing arts center.
 
For now, the fate of Block 10 is still unclear. Some area theatre groups have expressed frustration at the possibility of millions being spent on a new facility at a time when many are struggling to remain profitable. Nonetheless, some sort of major investment in area arts is obviously long overdue. In the meantime, Block 10 remains unutilized, and its barren asphalt and gravel expanse calls out to be put to use.