By Chris Clarke
After years of controversy and numerous proposals, work has finally begun on the redevelopment of the Sparks Street area by the National Capital Commission.
Dubbed the 131 Queen St project, construction began last May on a new building that will feature a mix of office, retail and residential space while preserving the heritage elements of Sparks Street.
“It (heritage) is an essential part of the character of the street. Take it away and you might as well be somewhere else in the city,” says Peter McCourt, NCC director of property development and planning.
In a study conducted last year, the NCC found the two strongest features of the mall to focus on were the heritage and pedestrian aspects of the mall. To preserve the heritage look, the building fronts on Sparks Street have been shaved off. Giant girders hold up these building faces while everything else behind is being reduced to rubble.
The three-storey facades will front a 14-storey building that developers are pushing to finish by late summer 2006. Once these buildings, Hardy Arcade, are complete the passage between Sparks and Queen streets, will be reconstructed to preserve the historical nooks and crannies of the mall.
“They did a good thing by saving the heritage. The whole building (Hardy Arcade) was housing pigeons, but now, when they finish it, it will be decent to look at,” says Franco Morgante, owner of Morgante Menswear. He says the renovation is overdue.
The remodelling of Ottawa’s pedestrian mall is the first phase of the NCC’s plan to jumpstart the area both as a tourist and shopping destination. Currently, only one in five people stops to shop while walking through the mall, according to the study.
And in a jurisdictional overlap, the federal government looks after the building while the city looks after the street; as a result, the federal government sees Sparks Street as a service area for visitors to the nation’s capital, says McCourt.
Ideally, the government would like the area thick with people visiting Sparks as a destination and not as a walking route. The project is a “reasonable way to re-introduce activity into the area,” McCourt says.
Because the majority of Sparks Street is used for government office space, once it shuts down for the day human traffic grinds to a halt. The mall is most active between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., when workers break for lunch. After lunch, it’s a different story.
“You could have cannon practice and not disturb anybody in the mall,” McCourt says.
Sparks Street Mall manager Sharon McKenna says the new residences of the 131 Queen St project will help change this trend by housing people closer to the downtown core.
“People living on this street will support this street,” she said. “The added office space will be beneficial.”
The NCC is conducting two more studies of Sparks Street. The next will be released later this fall. It will recommend more residences, creating permanent venues for arts, entertainment and culture and removing the green metal structures, which have been a source of visitor complaints, McCourt says.