A new music venue is moving in on Rideau Street, hoping to feed off the growing buzz around Ottawa nightlife in the area. Farid Dagher, owner of City At Night, a small events venue on Bank Street that specializes in electronic music, and Afterlight, a speakeasy bar, said he plans to open a new, slightly […]
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A new music venue is moving in on Rideau Street, hoping to feed off the growing buzz around Ottawa nightlife in the area.
Farid Dagher, owner of City At Night, a small events venue on Bank Street that specializes in electronic music, and Afterlight, a speakeasy bar, said he plans to open a new, slightly larger events venue to be called Gridwrks at 221 Rideau St., the former home of Mavericks Bar, which shuttered in December.
Dagher said he’d been looking for a new place to bring more music to the city as his other two businesses lacked the space during Friday and Saturday peak periods. While shopping around with the National Capital Commission (NCC), he found the Rideau Street space.
The former Mavericks space was perfect, according to Dagher, as it was already fitted to his needs and carried with it a legacy in the Ottawa music space.
“A lot of (the other NCC spaces) were bare, so they were going to be expensive fit-ups … The Mavericks space has a lot of history and culture. It has always been an alternative music space, so it’s niche. (Rideau Street) is also a cool place to be. The city has invested a lot of money into it. There’s traffic, visibility and lots of hotels and tourism. I don’t want to say it was a no-brainer, but it was a very interesting opportunity,” Dagher told OBJ.
Less than a kilometre down the road is the future site of Live Nation’s History Ottawa venue. The site of the former Chapters bookstore will accommodate 2,000 guests and likely attract many events to the downtown core.
Rather than see it as competition, Dagher said the Live Nation venue will be an “excellent economic driver” for the area.
“(It’ll be great) including for venues such as ours because, if (people don’t come) before (the show), it’s after or the night after or before. People coming downtown are going to become a little bit more like a magnet for others to take more interest and feel that, ‘Hey, you know what, let’s leave the house,’” he said. “I do think there’s a way for us to cooperate. We’re completely different in scale and size, but I do think that there are synergies by keeping an eye on each other’s programming.”
Dagher added that he remains on “good terms” with Live Nation operators, having collaborated with them on hosting Escapade after-parties at City At Night.
Dagher said Ottawa’s nightlife commissioner Mathieu Grondin and his council were instrumental in the creation of the project, adding he and Grondin spoke about the best course of action to open his new venue and how to manage negative biases associated with the nightlife economy.
“We’ve had a few calls to discuss and brainstorm (on) some of the challenges that we’ve had like zoning and by-law. He was the primary help in how we announced this. Sometimes, as venues, we feel that we need to be a little bit under the radar because there’s a portion of the population that has a certain prejudice about nightlife. He said, ‘You should be bold about this, this should be celebrated,’” Dagher said.
He said he hopes to challenge perceptions regarding music venues near the ByWard Market.
“Some people think it’s ruining the ByWard Market. We don’t think that at all, but when it’s curated properly, it becomes a cultural asset to people that live here or are visiting. (Grondin) helped us shape our thoughts and approach. When we’ve had questions and challenges, he’s been an advocate connecting us with people in the city. He’s a great person to have to relay what we’re seeing on the ground and what our concerns are,” he said.
Dagher said he hopes his new venue will fill the gap in the city.
“I don’t think we have many 200- or 300-capacity venues in the area. I come from a promoter background and I think we’re able to speak the same language as people in the arts. We have a similar definition of what success looks like. It’s not always the bottom line. It’s the impact that you make in your community and the mindset for long-term prosperity. I think (the nightlife council) is looking to add depth to the city’s nightlife and I think we can bridge that gap together,” he said.
While Ottawa will never match the nightlife in Montreal, Toronto or New York City, Dagher said the city will make its nightlife as “accessible and integral” as it can.
“Whether (patrons) are looking to build community or friendships, these spaces are safe spaces. They’re exciting and unique. They have a heartbeat of their own and they can become a catalyst to lift someone up who wants to take music up as a hobby or a career. Some people are convinced that Ottawa is boring and we don’t think so,” he said.
Dagher added that, with the uncertainty the country is currently going through, places like Gridwrks provide guests with a taste of escape from the stresses of everyday life.
“We strive to be a place where you leave everything at the door and let loose. You make some friends, you dance and move. We think the more the merrier when it comes to arts and culture. It can expand your mind when you’re doing well, but could also heal you when you’re going through a rough patch. We’re pretty excited for this and proud to be in that category of business,” he said.
