The city’s heritage committee has approved the demolition of the European Glass and Paint building at the corner of Bank and Flora streets after a proposal to incorporate elements of the existing structure in the new development was deemed too difficult and expensive.
The City of Ottawa’s built heritage advisory committee has approved the demolition of an old commercial building in Centretown that heritage advocates had originally hoped could be incorporated into a new, nine-storey structure slated for the corner of Bank and Flora streets.
In a unanimous vote on Jan. 17, the committee agreed that the building – located at 488-500 Bank Street and which was the longtime home of European Glass and Paint – can be removed and replaced with the planned mixed-use structure.
According to a report in December, the building will include retail stores on the ground level and condominiums on the upper floors.
The decision comes after the March 2012 submission of a controversial original plan to construct the new building using entirely contemporary materials such as glass and steel.
The plan did not meet with positive feedback from many members of the community, as it didn’t match Bank Street’s brick-clad streetscape, heritage planner Sally Coutts said at the committee meeting.
Members of the Centretown Citizens Community Association were divided on the proposed project, said association vice-president Rob Dekker.
"We were hoping to see some historical design aspects incorporate Bank Street into the building with some brick cladding," he said.
The association is, generally, in favour of the proposed development on Bank Street, said Dekker, also addressing the importance of the new influx of residents that would be moving into the building, and contributing to the revitalization of Centretown and the environmentally-friendly intensification of Ottawa’s downtown population.
The association submitted comments asking for some adjustments to the project to make the final design more consistent with Bank’s streetscape, and Dekker said he’s hopeful that Urban Capital, the developers, will take that viewpoint into consideration.
FOTENN urban design has been involved in planning at the site and has taken the community’s comments into consideration, said urban planner Sarah Millar Martin.
The backlash from the community prompted the creation of a revised plan that was submitted in December to accommodate the needs of the building from a heritage standpoint, she said.
Not only has brick cladding been added to the new plan, but also an increased chamfer, which is a symmetrical sloping edge on the building’s northeast corner, said Millar Martin.
The chamfer was added to replicate the look of the building’s predecessor, she said.
Some members of the community have expressed their support for the project.
It is an underutilized site, says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, noting that the building was in poor condition prior to the redevelopment proposal.
It’s because of this that heritage should not take precedence over development, she says, suggesting that wouldn’t be fair to the developers.
"The project will help enliven Bank Street," says Holmes.
It was initially recommended that, in keeping with the spirit of the heritage district, features of the existing structure should be incorporated into the new building, according to a city report. City heritage staff originally pushed the developers to consider this, said Millar Martin.
But upon consultation with the developer and further examination of the site, it was decided the building was not in adequate condition to be retained in a larger project, according to the report.