A new plan for the ByWard Market announced by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe will bring many benefits to the historic area, including boosting business.
At the Downtown Ottawa Forum on Thursday, Sutcliffe presented the ByWard Market Action Plan, which includes short- and long-term goals designed to “restore the Market to its vital place as the heart of our city and to revitalize the Market for an even more exciting future.”
In a media availability, Sutcliffe said the plan will be good for business owners as it aims to bring more people to the area. “I’ve been speaking with a lot of business and property owners in the Market over the weeks leading up to this announcement and their feedback was a big part of what we presented today.”
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Iconic spaces, lasting impressions
The Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum offer more than beautiful spaces; they provide meaningful settings celebrating heritage, culture and design. An architectural landmark overlooking Parliament Hill
Iconic spaces, lasting impressions
The Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum offer more than beautiful spaces; they provide meaningful settings celebrating heritage, culture and design. An architectural landmark overlooking Parliament Hill
Combined with investments already being made by the private sector, the new plan will mean an “exciting future” for the Market, Sutcliffe said.
“When a restaurant closes, somebody else snaps up that space and opens a new restaurant. We’re seeing investment from Live Nation … We’re seeing new hotels opening up in the Market and other ones that are planned, so there’s investment happening. And that wouldn’t be happening if people didn’t believe there was an exciting future for the ByWard Market.”
The plan’s short-term goals for the ByWard Market are aimed at creating more animation, improving safety, and making it easier to get to the area. Actions include:
- Working with the ByWard Market District Authority to create placemaking initiatives such as new outdoor dining terraces and local pop-up retail vendors.
- Partnering with the Ottawa Art Gallery to bring up to 10 murals to prominent buildings this summer, including the former Hudson’s Bay building on Rideau Street.
- Improving safety by enhancing lighting, beautifying the space at the intersection of Rideau-Sussex gateway where LRT riders reach the street-level, and increasing police presence.
- Converting the parking garage at 70 Clarence St. to a three-hour pay-and-display parking to encourage turnover.
Victoria Williston, executive director of the ByWard Market District Authority, said she’s supportive of the measures.
“We do put on a number of events and programming, but we don’t really have a cohesive space to put it … We’re working towards this project of a beautiful space with seating, lighting and integration. Businesses that are already existing there will be enhancing it with a pop-up space,” she told OBJ, adding that any revenue generated from the pop-up spaces will be re-invested into programming such as the recent Barbegazi event that brought snowmobile shows and other winter entertainment to the area.
In trying to create more activations and programming in the area, Williston said there are hits and misses, but success is worth the risk.
“One of the main things that we realized was when you try things, some of them work, like Barbegazi, and some of them don’t, like the (outdoor skating) rink. I’ll be perfectly honest. It was a risk. We took the risk and it didn’t pan out. But we’re learning,” she said, adding that feedback from businesses is invaluable.
The BMDA will continue to work on initiatives to boost foot traffic to the area, which saw significant improvement last summer, Williston said.
“We will be coming out with our visitation numbers for last year, but we were only 30,000 visits short from our pre-pandemic number in 2019,” she said. “We were doing things that were really intuitive to bring people down and activate the space. But now we’re going to be bigger and better and have more partnerships, like with Ottawa Tourism, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Board of Trade. It’s all eyes on us. The higher you climb, the farther you fall, but I think there is that support net at the bottom to catch us.”
The city’s long-term goals for the ByWard Market include:
- Reimagining the ByWard Market Building at 55 ByWard Market Square into a modern space with food-focused tenants. A second-floor outdoor patio will be added on the south side.
- Investing $1.9 million in repairs and improvements for the parking garage at 70 Clarence St.
- Reimagining the 70 Clarence St. parking garage into a “destination hub” and creating underground parking to replace the garage.
- Transforming York Street into “a big plaza that could host family events, cultural programming, winter activities, and major events.”
