council approved a plan to \u201creimagine\u201d the building at 55 ByWard Market Square<\/a>, as well as the parking garage at 70 Clarence St. and the York Street Plaza, all in an effort to revitalize the area.\u00a0<\/p>\nAccording to documents reviewed by council in March, the ByWard Market Building would become \u201ca vibrant, all-day destination that brings the \u2018market\u2019 back to the ByWard Market.\u201d The building would have a \u201cbright central hall, space for nostalgic food-based anchor tenants, such as a local specialty grocer and bakery, rotating food and beverage vendors and flexible event space to support community gatherings, cultural programming and celebrations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the documents say current lease agreements would be upheld, they also suggest that current tenants could be displaced under a new \u201ctenanting model.\u201d The documents discuss \u201crelocation advisory support\u201d for affected tenants, including \u201cproviding information on, and possible access to, other City-area commercial districts and available spaces\u201d and \u201cexploring the option of working with a local commercial real estate broker to identify suitable relocation opportunities for displaced tenants.\u201d<\/p>\n
With their future uncertain, 16 of the 17 businesses currently in the ByWard Market Building, calling themselves the ByWard Market Building Tenants Alliance, wrote a letter earlier this week asking the mayor and council to repeal the plan to \u201creimagine\u201d 55 ByWard Market Square.<\/p>\n
For Anguaya, she said her business would be \u201ctremendously\u201d affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that most of us in the building have catered our business to the visitors and the people that come to the Market regularly. It\u2019s a very distinct little ecosystem of shops and restaurants. We don\u2019t necessarily have the ability to just pick up and relocate. Our relevance is really directly (linked) to a very diverse group of tourists and visitors to the ByWard Market,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor ourselves, we see this as a renoviction. They want to put in a reimagined plan for the building, which doesn\u2019t give us any sense that we are supported as small businesses and entrepreneurs that have been operating under a lot of different challenges, as many people have, in the downtown core over the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attempts to expand Tickled Pink to another part of the city have failed in the past, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to the business being sold to us, the original owner did try to have another Tickled Pink in another part of the city and it didn\u2019t work out for her at all. I myself have had a number of shops in different locations across Ottawa and I know the challenges you face when you are on your own, hoping for someone to come in through the door.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anguaya added that the area businesses have been \u201cinvolved in various ongoing long-term studies and plans\u201d for the ByWard Market\u2019s revitalization, and while many agree the area could use a revitalization, she said the plan for 55 ByWard Market Square came by surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it took a little while for people to realize what was being said without actually being said. You had to dig down and find that the intent is to terminate leases,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anguaya said that the businesses formed the alliance as they felt many of the associations that would protect their interests had been dismantled.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the BIA and vendors\u2019 associations being done away with, in its place we\u2019ve been up against trying to deal with the new entity that the City of Ottawa has created, which is the ByWard Market District Authority. There\u2019s nobody that\u2019s there to represent the businesses or get feedback from businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to a request for additional information and clarification, Amanda Mullins, manager of ByWard Market Strategic Projects at the City of Ottawa, said in an emailed statement to OBJ Wednesday that \u201cfurther consultation with businesses and the public will be a part of this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the development of the revitalization plan, City staff visited the tenants at 55 ByWard Market Square and 70 Clarence Street to discuss the potential future work highlighted in the report. Staff reiterated that there were no short-term impacts to tenants during these conversations. Recognizing the important role that businesses play in the character and vitality of the ByWard Market, the redevelopment program also includes a Business and Tenant Support Strategy to guide ongoing engagement, with a focus on clear communication, minimizing disruptions, and supporting business continuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil has not approved a final design or future occupancy strategy for the buildings, and no decisions have been made regarding potential tenant relocations. Existing lease agreements remain in effect,\u201d she said in the statement.<\/p>\n
Mullins added that preliminary design and implementation planning work is underway and the plan will be brought back to council in the last quarter of 2027, with major construction in the Market not anticipated until 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work is subject to future Council approvals, funding availability, detailed design and construction timelines, which will be phased over multiple years,\u201d Mullins said in the statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Jill Anguaya at Tickled Pink, losing her store\u2019s location in the ByWard Market would likely spell the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-807379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}