Carbonear trying another tack to sell old Bond Theatre site

By Craig Westcott / July 21, 2023

The Town of Carbonear has received no takers for a property it was hoping to sell at 162 Water Street.

Council put the land, which used to house the old Bond Theatre, up for public bidding with a closing date of June 29.

“We didn’t get any bidders, so the committee is recommending that we list the property now with a realtor,” said councillor Chris O’Grady, who chairs council’s finance committee. “So, we’ll be doing that over the next while.”

One of the conditions the Town had placed on the sale was that the successful bidder would have to erect a building on the site, which is all but empty now, within two years.

Chief Administrative Officer Cynthia Davis, acting on a suggestion from Town Clerk Cathy Somers, advised Grady that if council is determined to go the route of listing the property with a realtor, he should make a motion to that effect.

Davis said the Town may also have to seek quotes from different realtors to gauge the cost of their services before selecting one for the job. “But at least we can get a motion and start the process to do the listing,” she suggested.

So, O’Grady did just that. Before he could finish making the motion, however, a phone rang in the chamber. 

“We’ve got a bid already,” O’Grady joked. “That was fast.”

His motion to list the property passed unanimously.

The site, which is located in a Heritage zone, has a lot of history. The theatre opened in April 1949, around the time Newfoundland joined Confederation. Its ownership changed hands and the building was converted to other uses before being destroyed by fire in April 2014. At the time, a sports company, Trophy Hut, was just moving out to make way for an artist’s cooperative that had hoped to use the building for a market. According to a story in The Compass newspaper, a collection of antique furniture was reportedly being stored in the building at the time.

The loss of the building marked the second time a theatre building had burned in Carbonear. Carbonear Cinemas, which had opened in the old Orange Lodge in 1975 and moved to the Bond Theatre building before settling into its final location on Powell Drive, was destroyed by fire in October 2011. The flames were discovered about an hour after moviegoers had left the building after seeing a screening of the film, The Help.

“We are required to obtain fair market value (for the Bond Theatre land) and there has been an appraisal obtained,” Davis noted.