The group looking to restore Somerset House are meeting with the city to discuss renovating the historic building on Bank Street whose fate has been in limbo since it partially collapsed in 2007.
Both parties talked about renovating the interior of a building on the site’s east side, says Derek Crain, an architect on the project.
“We’ve been negotiating a plan with the city to preserve part of that building and then try to fill in behind it,” he says.
So far, a major obstacle has been trying to bring the building up to building code without having to put in a new, concrete frame, Crain says. Installing the concrete frame would involve extensive renovations at a great cost to the site’s owner, Tony Shahrasebi.
“(The concrete frame) meant literally destroying everything that had been done inside the building, and redoing it, and obviously it caused the owner to resist wanting to do anything,” Crain says.
Crain, who also chairs the Somerset Village BIA, has been discussing the issue with an engineer, and Crain says he believes a cheaper alternative is available.
“We’ve been working on some alternate concepts, and the owner has agreed to bring in a new structural engineer,” he says. “We have been working on that to develop a new approach which is more economical to saving the building.”
The negotiations come after a settlement in December between Shahrasebi and the city over lawsuits stemming from a 2007 incident in which part of the building collapsed. This resulted in the closure of parts of Bank and Somerset streets for several weeks, and the demolition of part of the building due to safety concerns. The two parties then began disputing who would pay for the street closure and the demolition.
Under the settlement, Shahrasebi will pay the city for policing and firefighting costs from the collapse and drop a $5-million countersuit, says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes. The city, meanwhile, will waive the fines against Shahrasebi for blocking the sidewalk on Somerset Street. The settlement will allow discussions about the building’s future to move forward, Holmes says.
“(It’s) one of the best heritage buildings on the street. I’m certainly hoping that the owner will invest in that building.”
The next step, Holmes says, is for Shahrasebi to hire another architect to do detailed drawings. This process could take up to a year. Shahrasebi declined to comment on the settlement or his plans for Somerset House.
The settlement is welcome news, says Jeff Morrison, president of the Centretown Community Health Centre. Morrison started a petition on Change.org in September calling on Shahrasebi’s company, TKS Holdings Inc., and the city to resolve their issues and renovate the building. The petition closed with 344 signatures.
“People had been frustrated for so long that, for over five years, the thing was essentially allowed to sit there and deteriorate when it’s such a perfect location for the community,” he says. “It had all this potential that was not being used.”