BUSINESS BEAT by Katie Lewis
It would be a striking structure – a beautiful 925-seat concert hall which is both intimate and practical.
It’s something the city has been lacking for an epoch: a medium-sized hall designed primarily for music.
The location, across from City Hall on Elgin Street, is also ideal, and organizers of the project have estimated that the construction of the hall alone would have an economic impact of about $50 million on the community.
Naturally, these figures look good for Ottawa businesses involved in the project.
Julian Armour, Ottawa cellist and director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society, seems to have considered the arts-side of the argument significantly more than the business-side of the argument.
Both are equally important. Armour has done a good job with the arts argument, he has admirable logic. However his business argument seems to be shaky.
Armour estimates that once the hall is operating, it will have an economic impact of $20 million per year for businesses in the area.
We’re talking about a small stretch of land that is at the tip of an incredibly strong business area.
Businesses are already booming along Elgin Street and in many cases there are more people out and about there than in the ByWard Market.
Elgin Street. is not the best location for this concert hall, in a business sense.
Weaker business areas such as Sparks Street or Preston Street could reap the economic benefits of a concert hall more than Elgin Street.
Both Sparks Street and Preston Street are close enough to downtown, however provide an area which could benefit from business expansion. A concert hall here would make a large difference in a business sense.
It seems ludicrous to build the hall in an area, which for the most part, is flourishing.
The National Arts Centre is a few minutes away and already provides an excellent venue for musicians. A new area should be explored.
Build the hall where people can go and help economically revitalize an area and where businesses have room to grow. People need to experience other areas of the city.
Yes, the hall will be marvelous for music devotees. But will it have the predicted effect on businesses in the area?
And also, we’re talking about an area where there is minimal parking. Elgin Street is not car-user friendly.
In addition to this, some businesses in Centretown are upset at the $5.5 million price tag which will get slammed onto Ottawa taxpayers.
Actually, it’ll be a lot more than $5.5 million.
There’s $2 million in lost revenue from the city waiving permit and development fees as well as taxes.
And then there’s another $13 million that the Ottawa Chamber Music Society is seeking from the provincial and federal governments.
The relatively diminutive amount of $5.5 million has suddenly ballooned to over $20 million.
And that will undoubtedly come out of taxpayers’ pockets.
Baseline Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli makes an excellent point. He says the city is rushing into something that wasn’t even in the ballpark last year.
Where was the extensive public consultation?
And why is there such a need to rush into a project like this?
Is the building of the concert hall great news for arts enthusiasts in Ottawa?
Definitely.
However, is the hall really going to have a business impact in an already economically strong area?
Perhaps not as much as we think, or want.