Two new highrises approved for Centretown as part of Ottawa’s bid for the National Portrait Gallery may soon be added to the list of the city’s tallest buildings.
Although the 20- and 24-storey towers initially violated zoning regulations for the proposed site at Metcalfe and Nepean streets, City Council in April voted in favour of a rezoning plan that would allow the buildings.
The buildings are nearly twice as high as zoning typically allows in the area.The proposed development site is currently a parking lot that is located just steps from the Bell building and other business complexes in the area.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says people living or working in the area will “not be happy” with the development plans.
Although Holmes acknowledges that most people support the idea of having the gallery located in the nation’s capital, she says the height of the towers will be a problem.
“Nepean Street will be shady, dark and windy,” she said. “It’ll just be a wind tunnel like the Bell Canada building.”
Place Bell, on Elgin Street, is 27 storeys high, just three floors higher than the taller of the two buildings in the gallery plan.
However, for some the height of the buildings isn’t the issue, as the lot has become a convenient location for many people who work in the area to park their car on a daily basis.
“There are a lot of tall buildings downtown so a lot of streets are like wind tunnels,” says a worker, who didn’t want to be named, in the building directly across from the proposed site. “But what are all the people who park here every day going to do if the lot is gone?”
Mike Johnson is one of the people who parks his car in the lot at Metcalfe and Nepean where the development will take place. He works in the Bell building and often uses the space, owned by Shamrock Parking, when he’s in a rush to get to work. Johnson says he will miss the parking strictly for the convenience factor.
“It is expensive to park here,” he says. “But it is convenient when I’m in a total rush. It’s definitely handy.”
Johnson echoes Holmes about the importance of having the gallery in Ottawa but emphasized the importance of choosing an appropriate location.
“I definitely think it should be in Ottawa,” he says. “But this is a business area, not a tourist area. If you don’t work in the area you generally don’t walk by here.”
Two people will be out of a job should the development go ahead.
“Losing my job is going to be tough,” says one, who would identify herself only as Jeannine. She has been taking tickets at the lot for 36 years. “All the other people who have been parking here everyday forever . . . they seem like family and now they’re going to have to find somewhere else to park.”
She says the portrait gallery would seem “out of place” in the area and should be located further downtown where other popular tourist attractions like the Byward Market and Parliament Hill are located.
Her coworker, Alex Chin, has worked for Shamrock for well over 30, has already come to terms with the fact that he may soon be looking for another job.
“It’s the government’s decision,” he says. “This is the capital, so it is good for the capital of Canada to have the national gallery . . . wherever they choose to have it.”
The development proposal, by Claridge Homes, has a stipulation that the buildings must be used as community centre, library, or public health facility if Ottawa does not win the gallery bid.
The call for proposals was announced in November with major Canadian cities from Vancouver to Halifax vying for the opportunity to house the country’s National Portrait Gallery. Ottawa’s biggest competitor is likely Calgary with a bid that is backed by a $165 million with an additional $40 million from the Alberta government.
All bids for the gallery must be submitted by May 16.