By Julie Middleton
Sports fans anxiously awaiting the opening of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in Ottawa will soon find out whether their dreams will become reality.
Since the late 1990s, the not-for-profit sports hall has struggled to move from Toronto to Ottawa, but structural studies and delays in design approval have slowed their progress.
According to the original plan, proposed by the same architects who designed the current plan, Zeidler Roberts Partnership Architects, Ottawa residents should have witnessed the start of the hall’s construction this month.
Instead, the former train station at the corner of Wellington Street and Colonel By Drive remains untouched.
The owners of the hall and the City of Ottawa are awaiting the Canadian Gateway Development Corporation’s decision on whether the renovations are financially feasible.
Gateway was the developer chosen by the city to do the renovations on the 89-year-old landmark.
Josh Moon, a spokesperson for Gateway, says they will submit their final package of recommendations to the city within a couple of weeks.
Moon adds that the federal department of Public Works has also just completed the final study of the masonry and ventilation systems.
Gateway is currently going over the results with the project’s heritage architect Barry Padolsky.
“We wouldn’t be taking the extra time to look at the structure if we weren’t worried,” says Moon. “The building is old and there are some repairs to the stonework that need to be done.”
Rejean Chartrand, project director with the City of Ottawa, says that the wait should finally be over within the next six weeks.
He says the National Capital Commission and the Federal Heritage Review Office must also approve Gateway’s recommendations before construction can begin.
The original plan was rejected by the federal agencies last March after nearby businesses complained it was too big.
The new design will be smaller and cover only 70,000 square feet compared to 183,000 square feet.
It includes a glass extension, instead of the original eight-story office building, and a tower with an imitation Olympic flame bursting out of it.
But Chartrand says the latest design proposal received strong support when it was presented to the NCC and the Heritage Office.
“Both committees are very enthusiastic that the sports hall was able to protect the heritage character of the building and provide a nice attraction in the downtown core,” says Chartrand.
But Dianne Dupuis, a spokesperson for the NCC says changes to the design are still required and they’re certainly not at the final design stage yet.
“If the study is okay, and the repairs are viable than we have the go ahead. If it isn’t, the ball goes back to the sports hall’s owners, and whether the project proceeds depends on what they come back with,” adds Chartrand.
The good news behind all the red tape is that the sports hall has managed to raise almost all of the $35 million it needs to begin the project, says Jim Durrell, a governor on the sports hall’s board.
“We have eight of our 10 major sponsors, so we’re well on our way,” says Durrell.
Sponsors include the TSN and RDS television stations.
Despite the uncertainties, will the sports hall still open by Canada Day, 2003?
“It better be,” says Durrell.