The Ryerson School of Performance space in the Student Learning Centre (SLC) might be a temporary solution, but Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi said the move still cost the university over $10 million. Ryerson is currently transforming the old theatre building at 44 Gerrard St. E. into the Centre for Urban Innovation for about $45 million–approximately $20 million of which are from federal funds. Renovations began last year and are expected to finish in 2018. Lachemi described the space situated in the basement of the SLC as the “short-term plan” to accommodate the performance school while Ryerson searches for a permanent space through external partnerships. “At this point actually, we are in discussion with several potential partners and we are considering different options, so the process is ongoing,” said Lachemi. “Unfortunately, we cannot start giving names because this will defeat the purpose of getting the best possible solution for our students.” Lachemi said that the university is looking externally because of the unique and technical needs of the school that can’t be met by existing Ryerson buildings.

“[There] are very specific facilities that we need,” said Lachemi. “I don’t see any potential location on the existing campus to accommodate the needs of the programs.” Lachemi did not confirm what the initial budget for the SLC basement renovations was, saying instead that the budgets for projects like these constantly change. He added that faculty, staff and students from the performance school were involved in design consultations. “We always change the scope of the project as we progress because we discover things, we add things and so on. “I think that we were expecting just under 10 million,” Lachemi said, regarding the current budget. Lauren Clegg, Ryerson’s media relations officer, said in an email that the renovations cost $10.57 million in total for 19,757 square feet of space. Lachemi called the year-old SLC basement space a “state-of-the-art” facility. “In my opinion, it provides exceptional experiences and training possibilities for the next generation of theatre and production professionals.”