Bill Leonard, the NCC’s vice-president of real estate and development, said new tenant Live Nation Canada’s plan to use the building to host a variety of live events will be the “first step” in a much-anticipated campaign to revitalize Ottawa’s downtown core.
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A new music and entertainment venue that will soon take over the former Chapters bookstore on Rideau Street is expected to generate more than a billion dollars in economic spinoffs, the National Capital Commission says.
Bill Leonard, the NCC’s vice-president of real estate and development, said new tenant Live Nation Canada’s plan to use the building to host a variety of live events will be the “first step” in a much-anticipated campaign to revitalize Ottawa’s downtown core.
“It’s something that’s going to be phenomenal for the city,” he told OBJ in an interview on Wednesday afternoon, explaining that the Crown corporation’s forecasts suggest the facility will have an economic impact of as much as $1.2 billion over the term of the lease, which is expected to extend for multiple years.
Leonard declined to elaborate on the terms of the agreement with Live Nation, which was announced Wednesday morning. He said the lease should be signed within the next 60 days.
Renovations on the 60,000-square-foot space will likely begin this summer, he added, with completion targeted for late 2025.
The NCC purchased the two-storey building near the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive from a private Quebec company last year for $21.8 million.
Chapters occupied the building from 1996 until 2022, when parent company Indigo Books & Music moved the store to a smaller location across the street at the Rideau Centre.
Earlier this year, the NCC said it bought the “landmark” Rideau Street property because it is considered part of the “National Interest Land Mass” due to its “prominent location along Confederation Boulevard, and its potential to bring new life to this area of the downtown core.”
The NCC owns more than 1,600 properties in Ottawa and Gatineau. Leonard said the former Chapters building was acquired partly because it’s a site of “national interest” near the Parliamentary Precinct.
“It’s one of the marquee corners of the city, it’s right smack dab in the ByWard Market, it’s got a view of Parliament,” he explained. “This is a piece of land that we want control of for the next 200 years.”
