One block south of Parliament Hill, tucked in the heart of the Ottawa business district, is 240 Sparks Street shopping centre.
Built at the corner of Bank Street and Sparks Street in 1977, the mall takes up the bottom three floors of the historic C.D. Howe
Building and was a project of the Canadian-based international property developer, Olympia & York.
Named simply after its location on Sparks Street, the mall has more than 50 shops and retail stores.
With the two top floors of the mall comprised mostly of shops, the bottom floor is dedicated to a food court offering a variety of international fare and coffee shops.
240 Sparks Street shares the C.D. Howe Building with more than 3,500 government employees, including Industry Canada and the Auditor General of Canada, making the mall a prime location for lunch breaks and after-work shopping.
There is a noticeable difference between this refined mall and the crowded and bustling Rideau Centre, as 240 Sparks Street serves mostly a business clientele. The shops by and large are dedicated to designer brands, tailoring and other work attire to cater to the Ottawa businessperson’s needs.
From the outside, the blue-tinted, double-glazed windows of 240 Sparks Street fit in with any other office building downtown.
However, walking in from the Queen Street entrance, customers are bombarded with extensive greenery and a dramatic waterfall.
Standing in the third-floor atrium, customers are able to admire the two-storey tall elevator cars that travel the entire height of the C.D. Howe Building.
These dramatic features let customers know they are not walking into an ordinary office building but an upscale mall.