Dismantling of the Nikitotek theatre on rue Abenakis is now underway, less than a year after the City of Sherbrooke officially decided its fate. For a total estimated cost of $220,000 the structure will be taken apart and moved to a location off-site, pending a sale on the online auction website IronPlanet.
Both the theatre and the nearby Bingo Abenakis building are being removed to make way for the Grandes-Fourches North development project. The construction will eventually see a bridge spanning from the end of the Magog river, over where the theatre and Bingo building once stood, to the intersection with rue Terrill. A roundabout will replace the half clover leaf, half diamond intersection there.
Deconstruction is set to last about a month, after which the theatre will be moved to the site of an old landfill on rue Pelerins. Earlier this year, the city of Granby offered to take the structure for $30,000, but the offer was denied in favour of listing it for auction. The structure is valued at a total cost of $3 million.
The dismantling of Nikitotek and demolition of the Bingo Abenakis building are one part of the projected total cost of $41 million for the Grandes-Fourches revitalization project. The city has already committed to purchasing a parking lot from the Maison du Cinema to make way for the new bridge, which was downgraded from a “signature” design to a more conventional bridge after a feasibility study earlier this year.
Deconstruction of Nikitotek theatre underway
By Matthew Sylvester, Special to The Record
