Owner of Rio Theatre elated as campaign leads to mortgage OK
Rio Theatre owner Corinne Lea announced Thursday that the imperilled east Vancouver venue has been approved for a mortgage, likely saving it from a dreaded reno-viction.
Faced with the possibility of being squeezed out of the space after its owners listed the property for sale, The Rio’s operators mounted an impressive campaign to, per the hashtag, #SaveTheRio.
After making what Lea called “a creative offer” to buy the building, which was accepted, The Rio crowdfunded more than $500,000 thanks in large part to celebrity endorsements from the likes of Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Smith.
On Wednesday, Lea and a group of investors applied for a mortgage through Vancity Credit Union, then waited nervously for approval. With a May 7 deadline to remove subjects and close the deal, there was little wiggle room if Vancity opted not to approve.
“I was nervous because if we didn’t get it, we were cutting it so close to the wire that any Plan B would be hard to execute,” said Lea.
Fortunately, Lea didn’t have to fret long. Only a day later, Lea took to Facebook to announce the mortgage had gone through.
“I am so excited to announce The Rio Theatre just got approved for the mortgage! Thank you to all the staff at Vancity who helped get this done under such a short timeline,” she wrote. “I’m literally crying with joy right now!”
While things are looking good for the #SaveTheRio campaign, Lea stressed it’s far from finished. The Rio will be removing subjects on Monday, at which point they have 60 days to close the deal outright. But more money is needed. “The total number that we needed to raise was $3 million,” Lea said. “We raised half a million through crowdfunding, and then we raised the rest of it through investors, and then we still need another $800,000.”
The next step, Lea explained, is another crowdfunding campaign, this time through equity crowdfunding platform Frontfunder, which recruits investors, rather than simply soliciting small donations.
“Instead of people investing in big oil companies or having their portfolios investing in things they don’t know anything about or companies they don’t know, people can invest local, and more to their personal needs or interests.
“This will allow people to invest with a minimum of $1,000,” Lea said.
“They’ll be able to buy a share of The Rio.”
Lea said she’s excited to be giving people the opportunity not just to donate, but to invest.
“This has already been such a big team effort,” she said. “We couldn’t have done it without the community support, so I’m happy to open it up to people so that it’s not just accredited investors that can get on-board. It’s people who maybe have a smaller amount of savings that they can invest in something that actually makes a difference to them and their life.”
More fundraising events are on the way. On June 24, for instance, popular podcaster Doug Benson of Doug Loves Movies will be hosting a live taping at the Rio.
“The fundraisers will just help us with things like closing costs, legal fees and all that kind of stuff,” Lea said.
In short, it’s not quite time to retire the #SaveTheRio hashtag, but things are certainly looking positive for the theatre’s future.