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Hummingbird leaves nest, Sony moves in

Sony buys naming rights to Toronto's Hummingbird Centre

Last Updated: Friday, September 7, 2007 | 11:03 AM ET

CBC News

Toronto's Hummingbird Centre, a downtown performing arts venue, has been renamed the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, effective Friday.

Sony Canada has signed a $10-million, 20-year deal with the centre to get naming rights.

The centre will have a complete interior renovation, starting in June 2008, to upgrade it into a versatile multimedia theatre and concert venue.

State-of-the-art Sony audio and video products will be used in the renovation.

The centre hopes to develop into a premiere venue for pop concerts and multimedia events after its two main tenants, National Ballet of Canada and Canadian Opera Company, left last year.

Renowned architect Daniel Libeskind is redesigning the complex, which will be transformed with a new $75-million Arts & Heritage Awareness Centre and a 47-storey residential tower.

The centre opened on Oct. 1, 1960, as the O'Keefe Centre, after E.P. Taylor, head of the O'Keefe Brewing Co., donated the money to build it.

It was the performing arts home of the National Ballet of Canada and Canadian Opera Company, as well as a venue for concerts and stage productions.

The ballet and opera have moved to the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre.

In 1967 the building and land were sold to the City of Toronto and in 1996 the facility was renamed the Hummingbird Centre after the naming rights were purchased by Canadian software company Hummingbird Ltd.

Last year, Hummingbird agreed to merge with another software firm, Open Text.

Sony Canada, a unit of Japan's Sony Corp., has headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver and Montreal and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia and Whitby.

This story is now closed to commenting.

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