[bradnixon]

CTV sells Merivale building
By Roman Zakaluzny, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Tue, Feb 19, 2008 10:00 AM EST


CTV Ottawa has sold its aging building at 1500 Merivale Rd. for $10 million.

But the station isn't moving anywhere, at least for now, even though the network has available real estate in the heart of the ByWard Market after its purchase of A-Channel and its digs last year. For now, the local station is keeping a 10-year option on the Merivale building after selling it to Toronto-based Osmington, a real estate development firm.

It's been well known for seven years that CTV was looking for an interested buyer after 45 years at the site.

"Our building is far more building than we require," CTV Ottawa's general manager Louis Douville told the OBJ a year ago.

Mr. Douville said that much of the excess floor area is currently rented out to other tenants, including a dentist. "It's an old building, there's too much building, and certainly we have been entertaining selling the whole area. We have 14 acres. We have been looking at selling the property, and relocating to a property better suited for our offices and studios."

For now, however, CTV is leasing back the space it requires from Osmington, at least until it finds a new property. The station has not publicly voiced a desire to move to the Market, saying instead it planned to "strengthen" its sister station, A-Channel, which is currently housed in the Market Media Mall, at 87 George St.

Osmington representatives told local media that the remaining space on the property will be turned into residential units or small stores.

[harls]

This is great news... I hope they set up a studio in the Market or where they shoot the national news reports (across from Parliament on Sparks St). CBC and Global are already in the heart of the city, it's about time CTV makes the move.

In Winnipeg had a similar situation - they were housed in Polo Park (mall in the west-end of the city) and moved downtown to new digs. Global Wpg is in a former restaurant (I think) in the south end of the city and will be moving downtown, too. Perhaps it's a national trend, I don't know.

Now let's get TVA out of that Hull industrial park and onto Promenade du Portage with a Parliament Hill backdrop!

[waterloowarrior]

Early-morning fire at CTV Ottawa causes $2.5 million in damage
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/2534276.bin?size=620x400

BY JOANNE LAUCIUS, THE OTTAWA CITIZENFEBRUARY 7, 2010 1:25 PM
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Early+morning+fire+Ottawa+causes+million+damage/2534034/story.html

A fire that broke out in the CTV Ottawa newsroom early Sunday morning has caused at least $2.5 million in damage and gutted the newsroom at the former CJOH building at 1500 Merivale Road.

Ottawa firefighters were called to the scene shortly after 4 a.m and declared a working fire by 4:15 a.m., said Ottawa Platoon Chief David Stephenson. The fire was officially knocked down at 5:05 a.m.

"The smoke and flames were billowing out of the second floor," said Stephenson.

No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is unknown.

The entire newsroom was gutted, and the first floor, which includes the television studio, sustained extensive water damage. The five-storey office building attached to the television station was not damaged.

As of Sunday morning, the cause of the blaze was under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal's office and it is unclear how long it will take before the building is back in operation, although the first floor may be habitable within a few weeks, said Stephenson.

Police have closed Merivale Road at Clyde Avenue and at Baseline Road, as well as Clyde at Baseline.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

:(

[Gitfiddler]

Apparently the entire archives were lost in the fire.

[adam-machiavelli]

This is why you need to back stuff up and encase your materials in a giant concrete box, like the National Preservation Centre in Gatineau.

[harls]

Holy crap..

[danny the dog]

my god, that's so tragic. I remember recoding a Marie Soleil sing along tape in that building when I was really young.

[m0nkyman]

Apparently the entire archives were lost in the fire.

:(

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Apparently the entire archives were lost in the fire.

Well that's depressing...

[harls]

They are doing their newscasts from the A-Channel newsroom this week.. then they are off for the next 2 weeks due to the Olympics.. I guess that would be the silver lining to this story, if there was one.

[c_speed3108]

Apparently the entire archives were lost in the fire.

It sounds like the broadcast tapes are okay...according to the citizen.

They did lose some stock news footage and that sort of thing


Building supervisor's efforts save historical footage from fire at CTV Ottawa


By Kristy Nease, The Ottawa CitizenFebruary 8, 2010 2:15 PM

OTTAWA — About 100 CTV Ottawa staff gathered Monday morning to assess the damage and give a standing ovation to the man who helped firefighters limit the destruction caused by a devastating fire early Sunday at the Merivale Road studios.

Building supervisor Mark Leighton received the tribute from staff gathered in the Ottawa Citizen’s conference room to discuss how to move forward after the fire destroyed their newsroom.

Leighton, who is in his 30th year at CTV Ottawa, said he arrived at the scene shortly after being called about the 4:14 a.m. Sunday blaze.

After speaking with police and the fire department, he waited to be let inside to shut down services to the building to make it safe for firefighters.

He told firefighters what was critical to save, and led them through the building, covering up important equipment as he went to protect it from the water pouring in.

He even picked up the master tapes that allowed CTV to broadcast Monday morning.

The standing ovation took him by surprise. “It made me a little uncomfortable because I like to come in, do my job, and if nobody notices, then I’ve done it right,” Leighton said as the meeting broke up and many staff headed to A Channel in the ByWard Market, where CTV Ottawa will operate for now.

At the meeting, general manager and vice-president Louis Douville described, in as much detail as was available, the extent of the damage to the building and its expensive contents.

Stock news footage, some archival footage, personal items, cameras and other vital equipment were lost, but Douville said Monday that thousands of historical broadcasts are safe. The station will now begin the process of rebuilding as much of its news archive as possible.

The noon Monday newscast was cut in half, but the full hour at 6 p.m. and half-hour at 11:30 p.m. were expected to go on as normal, Douville said. By Tuesday, all newscasts are expected to run as regularly scheduled.

Retiring anchor Max Keeping’s replacement and current parliamentary correspondent Graham Richardson said he is astounded by A Channel’s help.

“To get two newsrooms together to spit out a significant amount of news under these circumstances is incredibly challenging,” he said, “so I’m just in awe of what they’ve been able to help us with, especially under the overall circumstances of them losing a significant amount of their staff due to economic conditions.”

The future at 1500 Merivale Rd. is uncertain. Until an inspector is allowed inside to conduct a structural assessment and determine cause, it’s unknown when staff will be able to return, and to what sections of the building. The inspector won’t be allowed in likely until Tuesday. An antenna needs to be stabilized and an unstable air exchanger on the roof must be removed.

There is also a concern about asbestos. Douville told staff that sealed-up asbestos used in the building was deemed safe in a probe some time ago, but that the fire and/or firefighting efforts could have disrupted it.

“It’ll be your safety first,” he told the group.

The building, along with about six hectares of land, was bought in early 2008 by Toronto-based real-estate developers Osmington Inc. for $10 million. CTV still has a lease on the building, and could technically remain there for another nine years, Douville said.

Richardson has been working out of the Merivale building for about a month. News director Scott Hannant woke him at 6 a.m. Sunday with a phone call, and Richardson said he’s still trying to process the news.

“It’s very hard, even for someone who’s a short-term member of the team right now,” he said.

“It’s a real lesson for us when we cover things, right? How many fires have I been to, (asking people) ‘How do you feel,’ and you realize what it means to people to lose even small things.”

A month down the road, Richardson said he doesn’t know what CTV Ottawa will look like.

“I don’t know what I see,” he said. “I do know that we’ll be covering every story and we’ll be doing newscasts, and that’s what the public needs to know.

“Everybody knows we had somebody murdered at the station and they carried on,” he said, referring to the 1995 shooting death of former CJOH sportscaster Brian Smith.

“No one died here, and so we’ll carry on. It’ll just be harder and it might look a little different … but it’s also going to improve.”
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[jeremy_haak]

Hopefully they'll be compelled to relocate to another more central location. Any ideas? I kind of like the idea of something in the Parkdale and Wellington area near the GCTC that could be integrated into a large mixed-use development.

[gjhall]

I would propose in Lebreton Flats - would provide a great Hill/River/Skyline backdrop for the newscast and add some activity and jobs to the neighbourhood.

[harls]

Hopefully they'll be compelled to relocate to another more central location. Any ideas? I kind of like the idea of something in the Parkdale and Wellington area near the GCTC that could be integrated into a large mixed-use development.

On a CBC report tonight they mentioned that their original plan was to move to the Byward Market into the same building as A-Channel.. they just weren't expecting to move this quickly..

[Cre47]

This move should have being done a long time ago.

[waterloowarrior]

CTV won't return to Merivale Road studio
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/return+Merivale+Road+studio/2662362/story.html

BY TONY LOFARO , THE OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 9, 2010 2:03 PMCOMMENTS (7)

Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — A CTV Ottawa official confirmed Tuesday the station will not return to its long-time home at 1500 Merivale Road.

CTV staff have been operating out of the A Channel building in the ByWard Market since a devastating fire Feb. 7 destroyed much of the newsroom. Damage to the building and an adjacent office tower was estimated at $2.5 million.

Louis Douville, CTV general manager and vice-president, made the announcement to staff on Monday. The CTV news operation has operated at the site for almost 49 years.

“I don’t think anybody was surprised when I announced it,” said Douville.

The building and adjacent property were sold in 2008 for $10 million to Osmington Inc., a Toronto real estate development firm, but CTV had a 10-year option to remain at Merivale Road.

“We knew we were eventually going to move,” said Douville, “so for us to go through the extensive emotional and physical process of cleaning everything, getting it out … That process could take up to a year. Then for us to move back and then move out in a couple of years just didn’t make any sense.”

He said some items will be removed from the station, including a plaque on the front of the Merivale Road building and the Brian Smith Tree, dedicated to the memory of Brian Smith, a CJOH sportscaster who was gunned down in 1995 in the CTV parking lot. The tree will be relocated at Camp Smitty, a summer camp near Eganville operated by the Boys and Girls Club.

Douville said what happens to the Merivale Road site is up to the developer.

A spokesman for Osmington Inc. said two years ago in an interview that the firm was not looking to put “big box” retail development at the 14-acre site and were considering some redevelopment plans.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[harls]

A spokesman for Osmington Inc. said two years ago in an interview that the firm was not looking to put “big box” retail development at the 14-acre site and were considering some redevelopment plans.


Sounds promising, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The fire probably changed a lot of things.

[waterloowarrior]

CTV's Byward Market move permanent
By DOUG HEMPSTEAD, OTTAWA SUN
Last Updated: July 13, 2010 6:17pm
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/07/13/14701876.html

CTV will be staying put in its new home on George St.

Staff learned last week the Byward Market will be the home of CTV Ottawa permanently. The so-called Market Media Mall is also home to A Ottawa and four radio stations.

There’s a chance CTV’s national bureau, currently located in the World Exchange Plaza, could move to George St. as well.

CTV Ottawa general manager Louis Douville said the company is considering expanding the building into the neighbouring lot, which it currently leases to a parking company. :cheers:

He said that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be less parking in the Market, adding one possibility is expanding above the existing lot.

“We’re looking at a number of options of how to expand,” said Douville.

He said the notion of consolidating all CTV’s broadcasting properties on one location is far from a done-deal.

“We’ll look at what makes sense, and ideally it makes sense to centralize,” said Douville.

[Ottawan]

I'm sure a strong incentive to move from the World Exchange Plaza is the fact that they will soon be losing the beautiful backdrop of Parliament Hill featured in their national political broadcasts from Ottawa in exchange for up-close-and-personal views of the Re condos.

[harls]

I'm sure a strong incentive to move from the World Exchange Plaza is the fact that they will soon be losing the beautiful backdrop of Parliament Hill featured in their national political broadcasts from Ottawa in exchange for up-close-and-personal views of the Re condos.

I hadn't thought of that. That was probably one of the deciding factors to put an office there.

I wonder if they'll go with a live shot of the Market or just use a cardboard backdrop of Parliament if they move to George St. I'm thinking political stories will have less of a punch without the Peace tower.

Still a lot of impressive views of the Hill from the other side of the river, but I could never see them setting up shop in Gatineau.

[DubberDom]

A source told me that Lowe's will build a store on that site

[m3i6]

A source told me that Lowe's will build a store on that site

That would seem a little close to the one planned for Hunt Club Road between Merivale and Prince of Wales. Perhaps they decided to locate closer to the 417.

[Ottawan]

I'm not sure which adjascent lot they plan to expand into, but if it's the one at the rear, and they're able to go taller than the Fat Tuesday's/Fish Market building, they could aim it to have the view of the Peace Tower up from York Street, which is in fact quite a nice one.

[RTWAP]

I'm not sure which adjascent lot they plan to expand into, but if it's the one at the rear, and they're able to go taller than the Fat Tuesday's/Fish Market building, they could aim it to have the view of the Peace Tower up from York Street, which is in fact quite a nice one.

This is very true. I used to live on York. It's pretty much in line with the Peace Tower.

But I think they won't worry too much about real background in their shots. It's easy nowadays to just park a camera with the view you want and pipe in the live background shot to the studio on a large screen. It also allows you to use the studio for a number of other purposes too.