Theatre magnate David Mirvish is insisting his vision for the future of Toronto’s theatre district is more about art than redevelopment.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning alongside his new partner, renowned Canadian architect Frank Gehry, Mirvish said he plans to finance a housing development that will look more like sculptures than condominiums.

The plan, which was leaked to the media over the weekend, will see the Princess of Wales Theatre knocked down and replaced with three 80-storey residential towers connected through a six-storey public mezzanine that will house Mirvish’s private art collection and a satellite campus for the Ontario College of Art and Design.

The project will be designed by Toronto-born Gehry and will sit between John Street and Ed Mirvish Way to the east and King Street and Pearl Street to the North.

An estimated price tag was not given, with officials saying that they are not yet thinking about dollars and cents but rather, are contemplating the overall vision of the project.

“I am not building condominiums, I am building three sculptures that people can live in,” Mirvish said to those gathered at the Art Gallery of Ontario for the news conference Monday morning. “If I could live in the Casa Milà (A well known Barcelona building designed by Antoni Gaudí) I would consider that a privilege and I believe I am sharing a privilege.”

The Princess of Wales Theatre was first built in 1993 and is one of four theatres owned by the Mirvish family. They also own Toronto’s Royal Alexandria Theatre, the Ed Mirvish Theatre and the Panasonic Theatre.

Mirvish told reporters it saddened him to have to knock down the Princess of Wales – named after Princess Diana -- but he suggested the city will be better served by its replacement.

“Having theatres that are not full all the time is not better than having art museums, a relationship with OCAD, a relationship with the city and an involvement of retailing and other amenities that will develop through this project,” he said. “These towers can become a symbol of what Toronto can be.”

Plan to spark debate

In the past, restaurants along King Street West in the area dubbed “Restaurant Row,” have been outspoken against condominium development in the area, citing the negative impact that high-rises have in creating wind tunnels and blocking sightlines.

When another developer announced plans for a 47-storey building near King and Peter streets in May 2012, the group of restaurant owners even created the website Save Restaurant Row to promote their cause.

Coun. Adam Vaughan said Mirvish’s plan will ultimately provoke considerable debate, but cautioned that that debate should centre around “city building” and not building height.

“It will generate a lot of debate and that’s a good thing but if the debate is simply about yes or no to a specific project and we don’t talk about the bigger act of city building in this neighbourhood it will be a huge missed opportunity,” he said. “While we can talk about the height of this building and we can talk about whether 80-storeys is better than 79-storeys what we really need to focus on is what kind of a city we are building next to that downtown core, how that city functions and most importantly how we manage the change that is coming to this neighbourhood.”

Design a work in progress

The new project along King Street West will be the second building Gehry has designed in his hometown after he remade the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2008.

Speaking about his plan, which he admitted were a work in progress, Gehry said the goal is to create something reminiscent of “old Toronto.”

“The big part of this is the first six storeys, the podium, and what we hope to deliver with that,” he said. “We hope to create a street scale that is evocative of old Toronto and that creates excitement and activity around the centerpiece, which is David’s gallery.”

According to Mirvish the new project will be completed in phases with the first being the demolition of a warehouse sitting at King Street and Ed Mirvish Way.

The entire project is expected to take about a year to secure the necessary approvals from city hall and will take three to seven years following that to build.

The Princess of Wales Theatre would likely not need to be closed for at least four to five years, Mirvish told CP24.

“Nothing is going to happen quickly because the theatre is the final part, but I don’t believe that I need these seats and it will be healthier for the theatre community if we have fewer seats in the marketplace,” Mirvish said.