The Artery appeals rejection of proposed new location

The owners of The Artery, the much-loved downtown music venue, are hoping third time's a charm in their search for a permanent home.

Phillip Muz was hoping to reopen at 9314 Norwood Boulevard, but says his application for a development permit was rejected by the city.

He plans to appeal the decision, and hopes to open the doors by spring.

"No guarantees, but we are pretty optimistic," he said. "We've been optimistic ever since the closing of the Artery that we're going to open up this place that people love so much."

Muz — who has brought his brother Mark onboard as a business partner — said the application was denied due to a lack of parking.

The site lacks dedicated parking stalls. The city requires 26 and refused to grant a variance for the new location.

The Artery closed in March 2015 after being evicted by the city. Officials were concerned the building at 9535 Jasper Ave was structurally unsound, and decided to demolish the building to make way for construction of the new Valley LRT line.

Muz said the city bylaws have been a problem in his bid to resurrect his music venue.  This is the third location he has submitted a development permit for since The Artery was shut down. 

In first location, Muz said there were problems with parking and the landlord "so they had to walk away." In the second location, issues with zoning and variances derailed their plans.

"Because the city of Edmonton doesn't have a live music venue business license, we have to either sneak in as a restaurant or go in as a theatre, and the Artery was quite a unique business, and trying to fit that into very archaic business license is quite tough."

If approved, the new 100-person capacity venue will open this spring and get a new name, The Aviary.

"Never name a ship the same name twice." said Muz who acknowledged the new name is also an homage to Tiffany's Bird Supply, one of the building's most notable past tenants.