Out with the porn, in with the condos.

One of the oldest theaters in Vancouver is likely being torn down to make way for a new condo project. The Venus theater on Main st. is the oldest theatre left in Chinatown. It was built in 1912 as The Imperial and originally showed live theatre shows . For the last 25 years it has been operating as a porn theater, but its about to make way for a new erection: a nine story condo tower is in the planning stages.

David Porte says his company looked at any heritage value the theatre had, but concluded it had been so badly renovated over the years it didn't have much architectural merit left.

"We looked at it, investigated it inside and out," he said. "Certainly inside it's fairly grungy, and architecturally there's nothing left inside. Whatever there may have been is long gone, and the exterior, the pink stucco, sort of speaks for itself."

With the current flacid state of our market this could be just the thing to perk up some interest among young buyers eager to spread their wallets wide. Could this be just the tip of a much bigger market penetration leaving lenders and marketers turgid with profits?

I just hope the buyers don't get f***ed.