A new report confirms that after 47 years, Centennial Hall has outlived its usefulness.
Consulting firm Novita was hired by London City Hall to conduct a market analysis.
It concluded, "The need for a new facility and the benefits of having a new facility have been widely agreed upon. It is only a matter of time before a new performing arts facility for London becomes a reality."
Proponents of the Celebration Centre point to the report's conclusion that the 500,000 people in the region can support a 1,200 seat facility without affecting other venues.
"I'm delighted that this report supports preliminarily the work that we've done," says Scott Ritchie of the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) Task Force.
Arts organizations are asking city council to invest $16-million to replace Centennial Hall with a new performing arts centre and high-rise residential development.
Councillor Harold Usher says he is still worried about operating costs.
"I don't want to build something that 100 people will go to each time. If we are going to build 1,200 seats, I want 90 per cent of the seats filled up."
The market analysis also warns against repeating the mistakes of the past. If a performing arts centre is built - it must consider its customers of today and the future.
That means figuring out what millennials will want 20 years from now.
An aging demographic has seen a 12 to 21 per cent decline in the audience for traditional performing arts.
"You have to look at 20 to 50 years and it's going to be very, very difficult to predict that because times are changing," says Usher.
Ultimately, the market analysis will form a basis by which staff at city hall can evaluate the Centennial Hall proposal or any other designs that come forward.
"What we need is an endorsement even if it's a conditional one from the city, so that we can go to the other levels of government to receive the funding," says Ritchie.
Celebration Centre proponents will press for that endorsement at a committee meeting on Wednesday.
