The city has shortlisted three groups of developers who are vying for the contract to redevelop the downtown Arts Court and Ottawa Art Gallery.
The three contenders will have until June to submit plans for the $34-million project at Daly Avenue and Waller Street, according to Mayor Jim Watson.
The city will announce the winning group in July.
“It’s a great way to help revitalize that corner of the city,” Watson says, adding that with the Rideau Street redevelopment and proposed light rail station in the area, it’s the “perfect time” for the project.
But Watson also emphasized the project will revitalize the entire downtown core and Ottawa arts community.
City council approved the project last November. The province pledged $6 million while the rest comes from donations and city reserve funds.
This way, Watson says, the city won’t go into debt to pay for the project.
While securing funding, the city started a request for qualifications process Nov. 29 to establish a shortlist of “capable and experienced developers” with the “proven ability to manage and execute the project,” Watson says. The process ended Feb. 7 with the shortlisted groups announced Feb. 25.
The three shortlisted groups are Montreal-based EBC Inc., DevMcGill and Groupe Germain; Greater Toronto Area-based Mizrahi Developments and Bondfield Construction Company; and the District Development Group, which consists of Montreal-based Broccolini and Ottawa-based Moriyama & Teshima Architects.
Nicolas Rancourt, EBC’s special projects director says the Arts Court location has “a lot of potential.”
His group wants to build a hotel and condos as a part of the development.
“Having a hotel would be a nice compliment with the art. I think the art gallery will generate a lot of traffic to the hotel and vice versa,” he says.
While generating traffic to the downtown core is the goal, Watson says the project will breathe new life into the entire Ottawa arts community, including galleries and businesses in Centretown.
Zoe Ashby, the creative director at the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, says accessibility will be a key issue when redeveloping the space. .
Making the new space affordable for the art organizations that rent space is also a major concern.
“Every organization that’s currently in the building here will benefit,” Ashby says. “We’re not going to be sequestered behind these big stone walls.”