Some businesses on Sparks Street are worried that construction is reducing pedestrian traffic.
Concerns echoed from one business to another on the already quiet Sparks Street Mall as the relocation of seven businesses from the Wellington Building on Sparks Street marked the beginning of a five-year renovation project.
The bulk of the business on Sparks Street comes from regular customers working in the office buildings downtown, says Sam Elsaadi, chair of the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area.
He worries the renovations on Sparks Street, which have stretched over the last few years, partly explain why business is slower.
According to Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes, the empty office buildings represent a loss of about 1,200 customers.
The renovation of the Wellington Building is part of Public Works Canada’s plan to relocate East Block and Centre Block.
The building must be renovated to respect the building codes for safety, Holmes explains. “The stores do have to move, which is very difficult for them,” she adds.
Similar to the La Promenade Building, scheduled to open this summer, the renovated building at the corner of Wellington Street and Bank Street will house parliamentarians in 69 parliamentary suites and 10 committee rooms, said PWGSC spokesperson Nathalie Bétoté Akwa in an email.
PWGSC has always encouraged businesses to take the space at the bottom floors of the government buildings, says Holmes.
Some of the recently relocated businesses are now in new beautiful renovated buildings, such as the Birks Building, she says.
“It’s going to be a few years before Public Works has finalized all renovations,” says Holmes. “Then we’ll have a new street, with new buildings and that’ll be good for 25 years.”
Alicja Postolek, owner of A2 prêt-à-porter clothing store, is one of the businesses that moved into the Birks Building.
After months of exhausting preparation and discussions with the leasing officer at PWGSC the relocation closer to Elgin Street boiled down to one weekend, she says.
In the end, she only had to close her business for two consecutive days.
“Everything was solved in a very professional manner,” she says. But it’s a bittersweet relocation for other businesses because the renovations pose different problems.
Sparks Street is well-known for its festivals, attracting more than 200,000 spectators each year, says Elsaadi.
But when festival-goers see the empty locations, they might get the impression that the stores are out of business or bankrupt, he adds. That certainly isn’t the case, he says.
In fact, many of the businesses have been there for a decade and longer.
Quichua International is one established store on Sparks Street. Owner Jill Anguaya and her mother, Judy Mance, sometimes reminisce about the time when the outside tables and tents drew the attention of curious passersby.
They know too well the impact that construction can have on sales.
Their business went through the construction of the CBC building which does not belong to PWGSC, says Mance. The construction lasted about two years.
Because of the dust, dirt and noise, they lost many of their regular costumers who would normally come to the store during lunch hours, says Mance.
Annie Zhang may face the same issues this summer.
Zhang is the owner of Brixton’s British Pub.
From the front window you can see the “We have moved to…” signs on the doors of the HMV and Black’s Photography.
These high-end stores on the other side of the street drew clients to her pub and eatery, says Zhang.
For the next five years the view from the outside patio will be of the renovation site at the Wellington Building.
Anguaya opened a second location in Westboro. When their lease on Sparks Street ends next October, they will continue renting the space one month at a time, she says.
“We knew that the future of Sparks has never been a given,” she says.