By Suzy Kendrick
The Royal Canadian Legion is moving its headquarters from Kent Street to Kanata leaving present tenants in the Legion building unsure about where they will be in 2006.
“We are expanding the sales and marketing of the legion which the current building won’t support,” said Bob Butt, the legion’s director of communications.
Tenants include the law office of Hall, Ray and Button, the Language Training Centre of Ottawa and Cave Du Roi cafeteria.
“The tenants know of a move, but they have not been given any official notification yet,” said the legion’s director of administration, Brad White.
But, when asked about it, Randy Kwak, owner of the Language Training Centre of Ottawa, said he “didn’t know” and had “no comment.”
The centre provides free English as a second language training to adult immigrants and refugees living in Ottawa.
Abbass Mohamud came to Canada four months ago not knowing a word of English.
“It has been very beneficial for me,” he said. “My English is pretty good now.”
Barrister and Solicitor Roger Button of Hall, Ray and Button said he was “not prepared to talk about it.”
Lisa Wang owns Cave Du Roi cafeteria on the first floor. She said she heard about the sale of the building by word-of-mouth.
“They want to move in 2006, so I have to prepare for that,” she said. “I will maybe continue my business up until that time and then end it after.”
The legion approved plans for the new building at their annual meeting held Feb. 26 and 27.
“Right now, every time we want to upgrade, we have to rewire the building,” said Butt. “The legion doesn’t have the money to sit down and rebuild the present building to 2005 standards. It’s cheaper to build a new one.”
Norman Kenney is the president of the Montgomery Legion and said he thinks the legion is doing a fine job right now, but moving will help serve their members better.
“What we’re doing is increasing our ability to provide members with things like memorabilia and accoutrements for uniforms by expanding our sales department,” White said. “We want to eventually be able to sell to all members across Canada.”
The new building includes 630 square metres of warehouse space, a truck dock and upgraded economical systems. It will be built for the legion’s needs and no other tenants will occupy the space.
“As we look at operations, the future will be very well served by a new building,” said White. “It will help us meet requirements for increased sales.”
As of now the legion building at the corner of Kent and Gilmour is on the market, but has not been listed yet. White said there is a specific buyer interested but would not disclose who it is.
The move to its new location at the corner of Castle Frank Road and Aird Place in Kanata, near the Kanata Wave Pool, is scheduled for September 2006. Construction of the new building will cost the Royal Canadian Legion $3.9 million.
At present, the legion is planning the design stage, with hopes construction will start in June.