National Capital Commission watch

By Michelle Ramsay

Tin House Court Commitments

On March 11th, the National Capital Commission (NCC) host­ed an information session for the residents and retailers of Tin House Court, the block bounded by Sussex-Murray-Parent-Clar­ence.

Many of the attendees were residential and retail tenants who were evicted in September 2015 to facilitate the restoration of their NCC-owned buildings. Now they were presented with a work schedule for a project that, six months ago, was deemed so urgent that some people received only six weeks’ notice to vacate.

First on the agenda was 7 Clarence, demolished in 2014 when the building was deemed too unstable to be restored. It’s the first construction project to break ground, albeit a year late. A year’s worth of events and programming has already been booked for the new Confedera­tion Pavilion, beginning with its official opening in February 2017.

The NCC hopes to reopen the Black Thorn at the same time as its next-door neighbor, 7 Clar­ence, but that date could slip a bit because they have to stabi­lize the structure – an unforeseen requirement. They also have to replace the roof and some win­dows, and restore the interior to meet building codes and accessi­bility needs.

Restoring 445 through 465 Sus­sex Drive is the most complex of the three projects, and has taken more time to plan. The tender for the properties – including exteri­or rehabilitation, mechanical and electrical upgrades, and univer­sal accessibility upgrades – was issued on April 29th. The win­ning bidder will be announced in early June. An asbestos abate­ment project at 445 Sussex will begin earlier than the rest of the work. The facades will be done by January 2017; interior and structural work will follow. The NCC’s goal is to have tenants in by summer 2017.

If you have questions or con­cerns, contact NCC Client Ser­vices at 613-239-5000 or info@ncc-ccn.ca

Clarendon Court Food Folly

Following the March 11 meet­ing, NCC’s Bill Leonard casu­ally mentioned in conversation that the Commission is think­ing about zones for the ByWard Market. This news tidbit was also mentioned in a conversa­tion between another NCC staffer and LCA member Sylvie Grenier.

Under this scheme, the Clarendon Court block bounded by Sussex-York-Market-George would be con­sidered a “res­taurant zone”. This is rational­ized as making it convenient for tourists and visitors to have a designated area brimming with dining options.

With a ByWard Market that already feels like wall-to-wall li­censed restos and bars, is it wise to add even more in a one-block area with about 200* homes? Residents are already at their sat­uration point with the partying, street fights, shouting, bottle-breaking and al fresco bathroom breaks that follow the last calls at the 11 establishments on the Sus­sex-York-Market-George block.

Enough is enough. The NCC should drop the restaurant zone idea and, instead, find ways to support the 8 food shops and 15 stores that call Clarendon Court home.

Guerilla Marketing

An ad hoc group of local busi­ness owners is not above taking matters into its own hands to promote and protect the ByWard Market brand.

The dozen or so people who make up the group are all active and vocal members the ByWard Market BIA (Business Improve­ment Area). Despite this, they’ve been known to step outside the lines whenever they feel bound by red tape, no matter if it’s un­furled by the BIA, the City or the NCC.

Here’s one example. When the NCC papered over the windows of all the closed buildings on Sus­sex and Clarence, people started asking shop owners in the vicin­ity about it. Their impression was that all the stores had gone bankrupt. The BIA couldn’t (and wouldn’t) do anything because the properties are owned by the NCC.

When the group asked the NCC to put up some signs to ex­plain the buildings were closed for renovations, nothing much happened. After some futile con­versations, the ‘guerilla market­ers’ designed, printed and put up posters on each papered-over window—overnight!

Next day, CTV picked up and ran with the story. Two days lat­er, the NCC finally put up its own posters. Mission accomplished