Committee greenlights Château Laurier garage demolition

By David Monk

Partial demolition of the five-storey parking garage at the back of the Château Laurier has been given the green light by a city sub-committee in a step toward the controversial expansion of the landmark hotel.

The City of Ottawa’s built heritage sub-committee reached a unanimous decision Jan. 11 that would see the 49-year-old parking garage knocked down into a single-storey lot within the next two months.

While the committee anticipates replacement designs for the parking garage to be filed within the coming weeks, the Château Laurier’s owners are also expected to produce a revised plan for the expansion project in early spring.

The partial demolition of the garage is the first step in an ongoing redesign of the historic limestone and copper building.

A recent proposal to build a massive new glass and steel wing at the back of the hotel was panned by many critics when architectural drawings were released in 2016. The city is promising a revised plan will be unveiled in April or  May.

“I was heartened by the staff comments that they’re finally going to come back with a new design,” said David Flemming, chair of the Heritage Ottawa advocacy group.

Flemming, who was one of the members present at the Jan. 11 sub-committee meeting, champions the preservation of Ottawa’s distinctive built heritage and cultural landscapes.

He was one of the many displeased with the Château’s 2016 proposed revisions.

“We have been very much opposed to the designs that come forward because, although it doesn’t mimic the current design of the building, we find that it just goes too far,” he said.

While discussions of the hotel renovation are still up in the air, demolition of the garage was a more pressing issue.

An engineering report filed by the Château Laurier’s owners in November showed deterioration within the structure from almost five decades of the harsh Ottawa climate.

The committee was quick to comply with the proposed application as safety issues were at the forefront of the report.

“The current structure is very unsafe. We have engineer reports that show that and there is a real liability in keeping that up, ” said Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney.

McKenney has already met with the representatives from Larco Investments, the parent company of hotel owner Fairmont, to discuss the demolition process.

“When they met with me they were anxious to get this underway, so they did fast-track, and I would imagine we would be seeing some movement within a matter of weeks,” she said.

With 232 parking spots at the hotel no longer in use, guests are left to find parking elsewhere.

A notice on the hotel website says only valet service will be available for guests. The valet parking comes at a rate $15 higher than it costs to self-park on site, and guests are now required to give a 30-minute warning for staff to retrieve their car from offsite parking. Guests are also welcome to find parking elsewhere downtown.

The Château Laurier itself is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, which is why all revisions to the property must be approved by city council before any construction begins. But the parking garage, the sub-committee said, does not enjoy the same protection.

“I think important background is that it’s not a heritage parking garage, it was built in the late sixties and it doesn’t have any heritage value,” said sub-committee chair and Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum. “So from the perspective of this committee, there was no reason to not approve it.”

Demolition of the garage is expected to begin in early February and would be complete before May, just in time for delivery of the hotel’s revised expansion proposal.

With files from Anita Brown