"It's bigger, it's better, it's brighter, it's shinier," creative Director Carly Heffernan told CTV News Toronto during a tour of the complex.

Inside, there are three performance theatres, including the 244-seat main stage. There's also a 170-seat '1973 Theatre' named for the year the organization started in Canada. Inside that theatre, a stage modelled on the facade of Second City's original Toronto home: The Old Firehall on Lombard Street.

"The space -- we had at the Old Firehall was more compact," Colin Mochrie told CTV News Toronto. "It was an old firehall which tells you -- there was a pole in the lobby".

The Second City alumnus, and Canadian comedy icon, shared his memories of working in the original space.

"What I enjoyed about it was the cast was very close, because we were literally very close. Everybody's dressing cubicle was right beside each other and there was that history of you know the cast of SCTV started here, and all these amazing people have gone through. And there was a smell downstairs that we just assumed was the smell of legends."

From Eugene Levy, to Gilda Radner, Martin Short to Mike Myers, the list of Second City members who have gone on to comedic stardom is long. And one of those legends is being honoured in the new venue.

A small, 70-seat performance space has been named the "John Candy Box Theatre". On the stage are slats of wood, laid by hand, taken from the original stage at the first Second City location.

"I think I smell a bit of my flop sweat in the corner," joked Mochrie as he examined the historic flooring.