With rumours swirling around about the building’s future, Balacade owner Grant Caton wants to set the record straight: the building hasn’t sold, there are no demolition plans slated for September, and the future of the space remains in limbo.
Caton and his partner purchased the Balacade from longtime owners Paul and Patricia Arney in 2017. They ran it as an arcade for three seasons, even after the damaging floods of 2019, but COVID forced them to close their doors. A hiccup with their game rental company also emptied the space of many of its modern game offerings. The empty storefront led their neighbouring shop Jack & Stella to ask about renting, so the general store has been using the space as a showroom since 2021.
Caton was surprised to see several recent posts online claiming that the building had changed hands once again and was facing imminent demolition.
“It’s nice to see the passion about the community. It shows that people care,” he said. “It’s really nice to see that, actually, but it also just shows how quickly people can jump on something and make a mountain out of a molehill.”
While there’s “no truth” to the rumours of a September demolition, the building won’t be able to continue standing in its current state, he said. Unfortunately, the fate of the existing structure comes down to a frustrating force that most Muskoka residents will be familiar with: flooding.
The historic floods of 2019 did significant damage to the building, and they simply can’t ignore the fact that floods are likely to impact the property in the future.
“Any good idea really requires the building to be brought up to code,” he said. “Through the floods that happened and just the fact that it’s an older building that’s been worked on over years and years and years, it does need quite a significant overhaul to modernize it.”
Part of the discussion surrounding the changes to the Balacade has revolved around the use of shipping containers in the design. Caton confirmed that they would likely use some form of modular design for the new building, a decision that was made after investigating traditional builds as well as several newer building methods.
Modular container builds offer a level of strength that would help the building withstand future flooding, Caton said, but it’s important to them to make sure that the building’s facade blends in with the historic neighbourhood.
If done correctly, modular builds often look no different from their traditional counterparts, so keeping the look and feel in line with the rest of the town has been “front and centre of everything” they’ve done, he said. Caton went to the Balacade as a child and has a seasonal residence in town, so the value and history of the building aren’t lost on him.
“I get the design and the feel and the heritage, and that’s what attracted us to it as well,” he said. “We’re just a little family that owns it. We’re not a big corporate machine that I think people think is coming in to ruin everything here.”
For them, rebuilding doesn’t mean starting from scratch, and it certainly doesn’t mean losing all the charm of the existing building. They’re taking steps to preserve parts of the building, exploring ideas of how to dismantle it to save and restore some of its essential elements. Along with preserving the history, they’re looking to include apartments in the new building in response to the local housing crisis.
The design Caton and his partner submitted to the township includes retail space on the main floor, two apartments on the second floor and a rooftop patio, but that is by no means the final design, he said. They will revisit the design to make sure it’s as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.
Their plans for the building have been on hold for several years for personal reasons, so Caton and his partner were glad to offer Jack & Stella the opportunity to use the space and keep it as an active part of the community. Now, they’re once again looking to see when they can get started on the project.
“We want to be cognizant of the selling season, so we are trying to be considerate to the neighbours on the street and the people that are using the Bala waterfront in the summer months,” he said. “We hope it’s in the shoulder seasons or the winter seasons to be able to do it, but the timeline of that is uncertain.”
He was shocked to see so much anger expressed by locals online, but he hopes the reaction is simply one of passion over how great of a community Bala is.
He and his partner face a balancing act when it comes to modernizing the space while preserving the history and meeting people’s expectations, but Caton wants to remind people that it’s a space he and his kids both grew up in. They intend to honour that past while preparing the property for the future.
“I love their passion, and I love that they care about the community,” Caton said. “The Balacade is a really important part of it, and we get it, but at the same time, we’re looking forward to hopefully building something that can last another hundred years, that is a great contributor to the community and is welcomed by all.”
For more information about the history of the Balacade, read the article linked below.
From Butcher Shop To Balacade: The History Of 1006 Bala Falls Road
