KITCHENER - Staff are expected to recommend the City of Kitchener spend $3 million to buy the BMO-Bank of Montreal building at King and Queen streets in support of TheMuseum's expansion plans, the Record has learned.

Details will be in a city report scheduled to be released Friday.

The proposal would see the city buy the building at 2 King St. West, which has about 8,500-square-feet of space. The bank building and property are adjacent to TheMuseum, which is at 10 King St. West.

It would be a major step toward TheMuseum's vision to transform the downtown cultural landscape, with an arts hub that includes film, theatre, live music, branded exhibitions, pop culture, a traditional art gallery and more space for expanded STEAM (science-technology-engineering-arts-and-math) programming.

The city will give TheMuseum a long-term lease on the property contingent on TheMuseum completing a successful fundraising campaign to pay for the expansion, and submitting a business case to the city for approval.

TheMuseum wants to demolish the bank building, and construct a new, 40,000-square-foot arts hub on that site. TheMuseum has a $1 million donation from BMO and $1 million from the Marskell family as a foundation for the fundraising campaign, which will likely be launched in the fall and aim to raise at least $10 million.

If the fundraising campaign is successful, TheMuseum will still need grants from Ottawa and Queen's Park totalling about $15 million.

The city's purchase of the bank building demonstrates the kind of support Ottawa and Queen's Park like to see before approving major grants.

TheMuseum already has a consultant's report that says $10 million can be raised in this region for an expanded museum, and even more if other arts and culture organizations are part of it.

Currently TheMuseum has about 38,000 sq. ft. of space inside half of the former Goudies Department Store.

In the past, TheMuseum has talked about erecting a $25 million building with 40,000-square-feet of space on four or five floors on the bank site. Combined with the existing building, TheMuseum would have almost 80,000 sq. ft.

TheMuseum has said expansion is needed to generate more revenue to make it sustainable.

It is a plan straight out of the playbook used in Vernon B.C., Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Halifax for constructing new cultural institutions or expanding existing ones-secure local support first, then apply for funds from federal and provincial governments.

tpender@therecord.com

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