When Claude Bonnet opened Le Moulin de Provence in the ByWard Market in 1998, it really felt like a market. As Bonnet tells it, he was looking to settle somewhere where he could cater to people getting around on foot, much like the Atwater Market in Montreal. “When I opened Le Moulin, the success was […]
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When Claude Bonnet opened Le Moulin de Provence in the ByWard Market in 1998, it really felt like a market. As Bonnet tells it, he was looking to settle somewhere where he could cater to people getting around on foot, much like the Atwater Market in Montreal.
“When I opened Le Moulin, the success was right away, because people needed that,” Bonnet told OBJ this week.
In those days, Bonnet said, farmers filled the streets selling fresh foods and the central building had just undergone a revitalization project led by Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky. It was the second time the historic building at 55 ByWard Market Square had been rehabilitated since it was built in the late 1920s. According to Heritage Ottawa, the first renovation happened in the 1970s.
Today, the building is earmarked for another renovation project. In March, council approved a plan to “reimagine” 55 ByWard Market Square, as well as the parking garage at 70 Clarence St. and the York Street Plaza, in an effort to revitalize the area.
According to documents reviewed by council in March, the ByWard Market Building would become “a vibrant, all-day destination that brings the ‘market’ back to the ByWard Market,” with a “bright 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.”
While the documents say current lease agreements would be upheld, they also suggest that current tenants could be displaced under a new “tenanting model.” Under that model, the documents state that “return opportunities are anticipated to be few, and many existing tenants will fall under the permanent relocation profile.”
A spokesperson for the city told OBJ 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.
Last week, Bonnet, along with the owners of 15 other businesses within the historic building, wrote a letter asking the mayor and council to repeal the plan to “reimagine” 55 ByWard Market Square.
Speaking to OBJ this week, Bonnet, who recently renewed his lease for 10 years, said businesses were not consulted on the plan prior to council approval and have not received clear communication about next steps.
“I was never invited to be a part of the discussion,” Bonnet said. “And from what I hear right now, (the city) doesn’t want to talk to anybody about what is going to be the future of this market.”
Bonnet says he doesn’t understand the rationale behind relocating the current businesses.
“Every tenant pays the lease. Nobody is late … If (the mayor) was preparing people to say, ‘We have a project in 10 years to (reimagine the ByWard Market)’, we could understand that, but there is no vision. The project is to clear the place like a tsunami and push people out.”
“(The tenants of 55 ByWard Market Square) have been here for a long time, paying rent, building the marketing and reputation for our Market and we’re not very happy to hear this stuff. For myself, maybe it’ll be a little bit different because I’m a big part of the Market. But the point is that the atmosphere in the Market is very stressful for many of us. For many years, you pay rent and invest money. You don’t put people out like that … it’s not fair,” he told OBJ.
If things proceed as planned, Bonnet said his future is uncertain. “(The documents say) maybe we’re going to keep the bakery. They want to put a restaurant upstairs. I need two floors for my operations. I have another business to feed on Metcalfe (Street). I have a commitment to other customers.”
For him, relocating would not be ideal. “I (currently) have 1,200 square feet. I have freezers, compressors and a lot of equipment. We can’t just move stores like that anywhere downtown. And some (other) spot won’t have the same impact. (In 1998), it was farmers. We were very busy. I don’t see any space for me again. If you’re asking me to move, tell me where.
“I don’t want to go to Dalhousie and if you try to find 1,200 square feet, good luck,” Bonnet said, whose business was visited by former U.S. president Barack Obama in 2009.
If Le Moulin moved elsewhere or closed its ByWard Market location altogether, it would affect the business’s second location at the intersection of Queen and Metcalfe streets, he said.
“It’s going to affect everything,” Bonnet said. “I have a few million dollars (in) equipment. I can’t move that. I was thinking of (staying) there forever. That is the reason I invested.”
If all the current businesses were to leave the ByWard Market Building, Bonnet said it would fundamentally change the profile of the area.
“If we disappear, we lose the way that we’ve built the (foot) traffic. It’s going to be a big hole in the Market and I don’t think these guys realize that,” he said. “We develop the artisanal food businesses … We have a seven-day operation from 6 (a.m.) to seven at night, for 28 years. People pass through my door every day. Why would you interrupt that and (put) an operation like mine in danger?”
While Bonnet believes the “reimagining” plan will not proceed as approved by council, he said he’s in wait-and-see mode, at least until after the municipal elections this fall. For now, many questions remain.
“What is the return (going to be) for the city? Who’s going to pay the rent? Money talks. You can have all the dreams you want, but in the end the dream doesn’t pay or feed the population.”
