Ādisōke [Ottawa's New Central Library] | U/C

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by rakerman

the purchase is good news, but

"We are going to invest in a city block – the only under-developed block left in the downtown – and we are going to someday build a new central library there," says councillor Jan Harder, chairwoman of the Ottawa Public Library Board.

Someday? Way to be ambitious there Ottawa.
I want this thing planned and built. Not even a target date? No money in the budget even for planning?

Wait for the next recession and then apply for infrastructure funds.

[lrt's friend]

If it takes 25 years to build a footbridge over the canal, this should take 50 years. Lots of time for planning and replanning and leaving a city block downtown increasingly derelict.

[RTWAP]

Wouldn't it make sense to do a multi-purpose building on this site.

Have it be a transit station (underground), library (podium at surface level) and residential/commercial towers above the podium?

I wonder how much the city would get for allowing a develop to build some freakin tall towers. If they could cover a significant portion of the library and station building cost then that would be great.

[Ottawan]

Great idea, and coincidentally, it is exactly what the city intends on doing! They have always said that there would be integration of several civic purposes on the site (Library + geneology centre + community use areas), transit integration (ie, connection to the station there), a small civic plaza, AND residential/commercial towers above which would help fund the project, and spur the revitalization of that part of downtown.

[kwoldtimer]

Is there any suggestion of when construction might begin? It will soon be a year since the site was announced and things have been rather quite since.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Ottawan

Great idea, and coincidentally, it is exactly what the city intends on doing!

Umm, no they're not. Wherever did you get that idea?

The two projects, as things currently stand, are to be carried out separately. They will dig out the block for the foundation and parkade for the library, while the station, which will be under Albert, will be mined out from within the tunnel. The sole bit of integration will be to provide station access through the library structure.

What RTWAP was talking about was actually putting the station below the library or at least building them as one project. Elsewhere Richard Eade has provided good suggestions on how this could be done, including tunnelling under Slater from LeBreton Flats instead of under Albert.

The main rationale given for mining out the stations was to minimize surface disruption, but in this case that doesn't matter since the site will be excavated anyway. If they built the station in the bottom of the library the station would be completed a lot faster and for a lot less money because it would just be a marginal addition to the library.

[Ottawan]

Dado, if you'd read the whole post, you would have seen:

Originally Posted by Ottawan

transit integration (ie, connection to the station

Perhaps I was confusing and slightly enthusiastic, but I did not intentionally misrepresent anything. Please do not put words in my mouth. The important part to me (and in my post) is the fact that the City intends to have towers over the library. It definitely needs a connection to the station (which it will have). I don't have the technical expertise to comment on the feasibility/desireability of putting the station directly under the building or somehow seperate.

[Dado]

I did read your entire post.

You were responding to RTWAP's post about it making sense to build a "multi-purpose building", in which response you said that that is "exactly what the city intends on doing". And that is not true. They don't intend to build a multi-purpose building. It will not be one master-planned project, it will be two projects with a little bit of a tie-in between them.

I'll defer to RTWAP on what exactly it was he was trying to say, but it certainly appears he was talking about one all-encompassing project.

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by Dado

I did read your entire post.

You were responding to RTWAP's post about it making sense to build a "multi-purpose building", in which response you said that that is "exactly what the city intends on doing". And that is not true. They don't intend to build a multi-purpose building. It will not be one master-planned project, it will be two projects with a little bit of a tie-in between them.

I'll defer to RTWAP on what exactly it was he was trying to say, but it certainly appears he was talking about one all-encompassing project.

I was referring to a very tight integration between the two projects that would allow them to design and build common elements or tie-ins at the same time from the same dig.

It may be that you're both right.

If the city does leverage the site and defray costs by going higher with residential or commercial floors then it will be interesting to see what limit the city puts on it when they're the ones deriving economic benefit.

Will they wimp out and build 10 or 12 floors because there's no developer with an OMB hammer, or will they build 25+ floors and argue that it's in the city's interest and not for base motives like those of grubby minded developers?

It's an opportunity to demonstrate hypocrisy or principle.

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Is there any suggestion of when construction might begin? It will soon be a year since the site was announced and things have been rather quite since.

My take is it is year away i think the best bet would say 5 years would be a safe bet when work could start.

[hunter]

More bureaucracy for another Ottawa project...

Plans for new library on downtown block called off

By JON WILLING, Ottawa Sun

Last Updated: July 14, 2010 6:11pm


Plans for a new central library in downtown Ottawa have fallen through.

Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder, chairwoman of the Ottawa Public Library board, said Wednesday the city has broken off negotiations to buy a block at Albert, Lyon, Bay and Slater streets for a new library.

"We'll have to go back to the drawing board because things have changed," Harder said. "It wasn't for a lack of trying."

She wouldn't say what led to the city walking away from the land negotiations, but she characterized it as a "mutual agreement" between the city and the primary land owner.

Harder said the $26 million set aside for a new library will continue to be bookmarked for the project. Searching for a new location likely won't begin again until the next term of council, Harder said.

jon.willing@sunmedia.ca

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by hunter

More bureaucracy for another Ottawa project...

Bummer.

Bayview anyone?


On a mostly unrelated topic, I wonder if it would make sense to have the city library take over all the school libraries on a contract basis. I think it would be more efficient to have one system that shared resources instead of 5 separate ones. Heck, the universities and colleges may find it worthwhile too.

[lrt's friend]

It is really too bad that the location has not worked out.

Bayview anyone?

No thank you. Our central library needs to be downtown, so office workers can pop in at lunch or you can drop in while shopping.

How about where the portrait library was proposed? I guess that would require a quick decision by the city instead of their usual dithering for the next 20 years.

[bikegypsy]

A real shame. It would have been a great location for it and would have helped push the area in an new direction. Downtown west really needs something else but office building.

[acottawa]

This is all quite odd. If they were offering fair market value then why are they not talking about expropriation? If they were not offering fair value, and the whole strategy was to get some sort of reduced price from alterna then it seems like the library board mislead council.

[Luker]

that is really, really bad news, for DT ottawa development, centralization, and intensifacation as a whole, the multi-use facility would of been just what that area needed to lighten up the work/redsedential wind-tunnel/boring feel west of bank

You guys want to shoot off some potential properties in the CBD or market which could potentially house the new Central Library?

[flar]

Why can't they do something at the current site of the Main Library? It's in a prime location. Or maybe they could just spend the money on new books, Ottawa's library system is not that great relative to other services in this city.

[drawarc]

That is bad news. What about Place de Ville phase 3 site at Kent and Queen. Have central library as a main tenant?

[kwoldtimer]

Or propose locating it in an expanded Rideau Centre to try to entice some life into that project.

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Or propose locating it in an expanded Rideau Centre to try to entice some life into that project.

That's an interesting idea.

Personally, I'd do a massive renovation of the NAC that completely changed the look of the externals, and added all the space a central library needs. Rename it the Culture Centre or something.

But that's a 20 second idea with no critical thought applied so it's probably totally unworkable.