Centretown may soon be saying goodbye to the Greyhound bus station.
Stewart Robertson, the owner of the Catherine Street bus site, has applied to the city for a rezoning permit.
The new designation would ultimately allow for the construction of two condo-style mixed-use towers.
In an interview with the CBC, Robertson said this new condo plan is merely a backup plan.
“Did I want to go through with this? No, I didn’t . . . (This development) is not a guaranteed proposition.”
There has been speculation in the past that Greyhound Canada would relocate its operations further away from the city centre to a site near the train station.
Former mayor Larry O’Brien was in favour of moving the bus station closer to the VIA Rail station on Vanier Parkway.
He claimed it would better co-ordinate transportation in the city.
Eric Darwin, president of the Dalhousie Community Association, agrees and says he’s not opposed to the development of the site.
“Personally, I’ll be happy to see the Greyhound station move…the bus station is just in the wrong spot. It’s a great spot for development, for new residential apartments, as long as it’s done well.”
If Greyhound Canada does decide to move its operations, the new rezoning proposal calls for 458 residential units, 446 underground parking spaces, and a height range between nine and 23 floors.
Darwin says he believes the new buildings could help revitalize the neighbourhood.
“Basically they’ve ruined the street because they’ve taken a commercial street and turned it into a freeway,” says Darwin.
“So I’m not opposed to this. Buildings get built, people move into them . . . that’s what keeps a city dynamic and exciting,” he says.
However dynamic a new residential tower may be, not everyone is excited at the prospect of the bus station leaving Centretown.
Charles Akben-Marchand, president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, says that the CCCA hasn’t taken an official stance on the issue.
But he says many of the local residents he’s spoken with would oppose a relocation.
“Most of the feedback I’ve received about this has been negative,” says Akben-Marchand.
“People are saying it was a mistake to move the train station out of downtown and it would be a mistake to move the bus as well,” he adds.
Ottawa resident Jeremy Rutke recently visited the bus station to pick up a friend.
He says he also disagrees with the potential move.
“It’ll be a huge inconvenience to anybody who lives in the city,” says Rutke.
“If you have to go all the way out to Vanier . . . it completely defeats the purpose of using the bus.”
While public opinion on the bus station location may vary, the move from Centretown is still a hypothetical relocation.
A spokesperson for Greyhound Canada said that the company is aware of the rezoning application. But it has no current plans to move and is satisfied with the Catherine Street site.
For people like Darwin, the hypothetical move should come sooner rather than later.
“It’s about time we had something attractive on Catherine Street,” says Darwin.
“It’s my hope that this can revitalize the entire street. We’ll have to wait and see whether this developer can make that happen.”