Mandy Kovacs, Centretown News
Somerset House, which has been empty for years since a partial collapse in 2007, has recently gone up for lease. The owner is slated to start construction in the spring.Somerset House at the corner of Bank and Somerset streets may be getting a facelift as early as June.
Property owner Tony Shahrasebi says an architect and engineer are drawing up the plans for the dilapitated building, but is still awaiting a building permit from the city. He hopes to have businesses opened by the end of 2016.
The historical Somerset House has been in disrepair since a 2007 fire caused a partial collapse of the three-storey building.
Mayor Jim Watson reinstated the encroachment fees for the property in the fall of 2014, which were previously being waived, in an effort to pressure Shahrasebi’s company TKS Holdings to start renovations.
Shahrasebi says the plans for the building will maintain its beauty, leaving the historical facade as untouched as possible. Renovations will include rebuilding two floors, building an addition and new building at the back and adding an elevator.
“We’re going to keep the historic side,” he says. “It’s going to be beautiful inside because I’m going to keep all of the brick exposed. It’s just unbelievable. When I’m finished with it, it’s going to be one of the nicest buildings in town.”
But first, Shahrasebi needs to find businesses to lease the space so he can renovate the building with their needs in mind and ensure future income. While he hopes to create office spaces on the second floor, he says the first floor and basement will be retail spaces.
In the past, Shahrasebi says he was working with a national retailer for the space but the process was taking too long.
The area is in need of anchor retailers, according to Christine Leadman, executive director of the Bank Street BIA.
Leadman says an “anchor tenant” who could fill the large space – each floor will have 6,000 square feet – would be a great draw for business in the area.
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While office spaces are declining in the area, she says something this unique has a lot of potential.
“We would love to see something in the way of fashion,” she says. “Main retail could be something that really would full a void in the area. We’d like to see a unique retailer, not a national one for that size.”
Leadman says while she has confidence in Shahrasebi’s work, it is important to make sure renovations like this are done right.
Finding new tenants in the retail industry can be a slow process when shopping malls are expanding, says Leadman.
Designing and developing a property of that vintage also has it challenges.A lot of thought and a lot of work needs to go into it.”
The mayor has previously spoken out about the need to get the building back up and running, and said via email that the building is currently an “eyesore.”
While he is optimistic work will begin on it soon, Watson said it’s hard to believe when the building has been in disrepair for so long.
“I think the prospect of bringing this building back to life is positive and it would be great for the community to have a restored Somerset House,” Watson said via email. “On the other hand, this site has seen so many stops and starts that I think it is very much in ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ territory.”