Kinkade Davis was walking down Gerrard Street with his mother Jazzmin and their dog Trigger one fall day in 2024 when they noticed a “For Rent” sign on the front of the dilapidated theatre near Galt Avenue. To the 29-year-old musician and stagehand, born and raised just two blocks away in Toronto’s east end, the venue, called the Grand Gerrard, was a familiar sight.
Knowing that her son was involved in the city’s music community, having helped set up hundreds of shows in recent years, Jazzmin asked if he’d ever consider owning a venue.
At first Davis laughed and said no, but then he couldn’t let go of the thought. Soon, he was asking a colleague, an audio engineer at Leslieville concert hall the Opera House, to check out the site to see if the 100-plus-year-old building could be a viable space for music. As it turns out, it could.
The single-screen cinema happened to be one of Toronto oldest theatres, opening in 1911 as the Bonita, built from two houses on the south side of Gerrard Street East.
The venue has changed ownership several times and has had many names over the years, including the Athenium, the Wellington, the Gerrard, the Sri Lakshmi and the Projection Booth. More recently, another local resident, film producer and concert promoter Matthew Almeida, revived it as the Grand Gerrard Theatre, but the endeavour didn’t survive past 2021, leaving the space vacant for the last four years.
When Davis met the owner inside, it was full of garbage, but he saw past the mess and recognized the potential. “I just got a good feeling,” he told the Star from the venue’s front foyer, where a power tool whirred in the background; his friend Connor Foley was building a bar.
“Then on a deeper scale, I was thinking about venues getting shut down, like the Phoenix. We need more spaces for local artists. I’m an artist first, so I can facilitate this space in a way that caters towards artistry and allows artists to survive off their work.”
When Davis asked the owner what he envisioned the space becoming, he suggested a sports bar. “I literally told him, ‘No, please don’t do that,’” said Davis, who went on to pitch his concept for “one of the best venues in the city’s east end.”
“Give me the opportunity,” Davis recalled saying, “and I promise you that I’m going to do it.” With this new conviction, he took all his savings and struck a deal to take over the building last December.
He decided to name it the Mercy on Gerrard to honour his late aunt Mercy Davis, another lifelong east end resident whom he considered one of his biggest supporters.
Ever since, he, his family and close friends have been working tirelessly to refurbish the venue, with a capacity of around 400, for an April opening. Since his work as a stagehand is largely freelance, he was able to reduce his hours significantly to dedicate himself to the renovation full-time. “I’ve been in here pretty much every single day,” he said.
They spent the first month and a half clearing out garbage. Then came reinforcing the stage, cleaning the bathrooms and basement, building the bar, painting and sourcing equipment — not to mention reaching out to bookers, hiring staff, securing a liquor license and ensuring compliance with fire regulations.
With his finances dwindling, he’s turned to the community to help, setting up a GoFundMe, managed by a friend, asking for exactly $31,035, an amount that will cover remaining renovations ($7,000), a new sign ($3,335), sound system ($13,900) and lighting ($6,800). Anyone donating $200 or more will get their name on a plaque by the entrance.
Another friend is helping spearhead media and social outreach. Two videos on TikTok each have more than 23,000 views, a high level of engagement for a local page with only three posts and a small following. Commenters have volunteered time and labour as well as financial support, including one community member who has offered to paint the new sign at a discount. “The ball just kept rolling and now it’s become a massive community effort,” Davis said.
His vision for the Mercy is to foster a community and allow a wide range of artistic endeavours. The doors will be open to any booker, as well as independent artists (some of whom will be Davis’s friends, like the Beaches, Aaron Paris, BadBadNotGood and the Kount). Programming, he promises, will be diverse: “One night it could be a drag show. The next night we build a half pipe in here. The next night, there’s an indie rock band,” he said.
Community members have also approached him with offers to rent space for their own services, such as a cafe in the front foyer, a morning vocal therapy class and aerobics.
“My whole position is just to facilitate and give people a space to do whatever they want,” Davis said. He intends to host a gala night to kick off the programming, funds from which will be redirected into the remaining needs of the space.
Over the past few summers Davis has left the city to devote time to planting trees. But having committed to the Mercy Gerrard, he’ll need to forgo that endeavour for the foreseeable future. He admits it’ll be hard for him to it let go, but the thing that had always kept him returning season after season was the community.
“Now I’m just building that community where I was born and raised,” he said. “The goal is to be here for years and enrich the neighbourhood … Nobody really knew about this venue. It wasn’t on anybody’s radar.
“But now it’s on everybody’s radar.”
