[2] In August 2010, the provincial government pulled funding and announced ownership would be returned to the city of Montreal by November.

[7] Residents of NDG formed Renaissance Empress, a group dedicated to preserving the theatre and transforming it into a cultural centre, and delayed the move.

On November 2, 2015, the city voted to grant a third and final extension, for June 30, 2016,[9] but yet again Cinema NDG failed to meet the deadline, forfeiting the project.

In late September 2016, in hope of a new start, Cinema NDG submitted a revised and scaled back plan to the city, bringing the estimate cost down to $9.5 million.

However, the city did not show willingness to accept a new plan, and furthermore stated under no circumstance would it transfer ownership of the building unless Cinema NDG could prove it had secured 100% of the funding.

Although community organizers had temporarily opened a small one room office headquarters on the ground floor in 2005 (left corner of building), it was abandoned again when the city of Montreal forcibly closed it in December 2011.

As of August 2023, all the building's windows and doors are now permanently boarded up for long-term abandonment, leaving the former theater to succumb to nature.

In March 2020, CTV News reported the CDN-NDG city borough planned to demolish the former Empress theater.

Its neo-Egyptian exterior facade could be preserved and incorporated into a new building, however its advanced decay and the substantial additional cost questioned its feasibility.

In November 2024, it was reported the city of Montreal was preparing to sell the building, with plans once again to redevelop it into a mix of commercial and residential space.