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Moxy Marriott / Major Apartments | 126 York St. & 151 George St. | 72m | 22s | Rimap | Le Groupe Architex

I find the area right in front of the Rideau Centre entrance is a bit worse but I think that is more the fact that the part further east has gotten WAY better. It's also a bit of a ghost town for stores with so many that have just closed.

Also The Bay had been dead for at least a decade, it was like 90% people walking through as a pedestrian connection.
 
I'd like to see something like the old HBC in Victoria (https://www.townline.com/project/the-hudson), where they convert it to residential, removing the core to create a courtyard, maybe add one 20 floor tower. In Winnipeg, the First Nations are creating something pretty cool (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10411244&postcount=160). Alternatively, I'd like to see an entertainment hub (RecRoom or FunHaven). Vancouver is also doing interesting stuff, preserving facades with towers at the back, though that's just facadism (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10399621&postcount=155).
 
In town this week. Taken yesterday and today:

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J.OT13 said:
Would be nice to see the Ottawa Police and the City of Ottawa look to other cities (and countries) on how to best handle the issues we're having. I have little faither unfortunately.

I hope History is used as a normal restaurant during the day, or at least participates in local festivals like Tulipfest and Bluesfest as a venue. Alternatively, open it a few hours a day as a restaurant. Gotta to keep it active during the day somehow.
Click to expand...

I know I already made a post on the subject but felt compelled to return to this. In no way does a 2000 person live nation venue with an OVO co-sign need to have day hours as a restaurant to contribute to "vibrancy". Sometimes I come on here and feel compelled to ask if some of the more prolific posters on this forum even still go to the market? On Clarence alone there are several new places open in the last year. The Rainbow is doing a range of shows again, BTP byward has booked some impressive pop up events, Mavericks closed but almost immidiately got taken over as a techno club which given there was a relative glut of bar-sized punk/metal venues is arguably a plus for the city.

The only serious need for the market besides people in this city wrapping their heads around what a tourist/bar district in a medium sized city is typically like is getting rid of the parking on York... although some new pavers and lighting and a bit of public art obviously wouldn't hurt.
 
postingaboutottawa said:
I know I already made a post on the subject but felt compelled to return to this. In no way does a 2000 person live nation venue with an OVO co-sign need to have day hours as a restaurant to contribute to "vibrancy". Sometimes I come on here and feel compelled to ask if some of the more prolific posters on this forum even still go to the market? On Clarence alone there are several new places open in the last year. The Rainbow is doing a range of shows again, BTP byward has booked some impressive pop up events, Mavericks closed but almost immidiately got taken over as a techno club which given there was a relative glut of bar-sized punk/metal venues is arguably a plus for the city.

The only serious need for the market besides people in this city wrapping their heads around what a tourist/bar district in a medium sized city is typically like is getting rid of the parking on York... although some new pavers and lighting and a bit of public art obviously wouldn't hurt.
Click to expand...
The comments were specifically in relation to that block of Rideau, not the Market generally. I agree that there has been an impressive number of new businesses popping up in the past two years, and that the Market is notably busier in the past year. That said, the departure of the Bay leaves a huge hole. Combine that with a venue that is empty during the day and you have a big stretch of emptiness on a key block. It’s a real issue.
 
phil235 said:
The comments were specifically in relation to that block of Rideau, not the Market generally. I agree that there has been an impressive number of new businesses popping up in the past two years, and that the Market is notably busier in the past year. That said, the departure of the Bay leaves a huge hole. Combine that with a venue that is empty during the day and you have a big stretch of emptiness on a key block. It’s a real issue.
Click to expand...

I guess the whole premise doesn't follow for me. We should lament that a mid sized venue billed as a slightly smaller Ottawa cousin to Toronto's biggest new venue of the past decade is taking over a chapters won't have an exterior bar or cafe or won't serve lunch because a Bay store which has been circling the drain for years (with truly terrible George street frontage) and is mainly used as a cut through has the possibility of being something else... all while the market itself has been rebounding and will see at least some further improvements.

Having video signs advertising an entirely different class of touring act playing in the market is not nothing I am at a loss for how people aren't seeing that.
 
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postingaboutottawa said:
I guess the whole premise doesn't follow for me. We should lament that a mid sized venue billed as a slightly smaller Ottawa cousin to Toronto's biggest new venue of the past decade is taking over a chapters won't have an exterior bar or cafe or won't serve lunch because a Bay store which has been circling the drain for years (with truly terrible George street frontage) and is mainly used as a cut through has the possibility of being something else... all while the market itself has been rebounding and will see at least some further improvements.

Having video signs advertising an entirely different class of touring act playing in the market is not nothing I am at a loss for how people aren't seeing that.
Click to expand...
It’s definitely a positive on balance, but music venues aren’t great for activating the street overall. Notice that the Toronto venue isn’t in a key downtown location. Even a cafe like Chapters had would be a good addition to the street

The Bay has had its struggles recently, but it was still attracting significant numbers of people to that area. No doubt it can become something that will be more of an attraction, but by all accounts that is going to take a long time. It’s the interim 5 years or more that is the concern.
 
phil235 said:
It’s definitely a positive on balance, but music venues aren’t great for activating the street overall. Notice that the Toronto venue isn’t in a key downtown location. Even a cafe like Chapters had would be a good addition to the street

The Bay has had its struggles recently, but it was still attracting significant numbers of people to that area. No doubt it can become something that will be more of an attraction, but by all accounts that is going to take a long time. It’s the interim 5 years or more that is the concern.
Click to expand...

Sure but other slightly older venues of similar capacity plugged into the live nation circuit are in "key downtown locations" in other cities, Ottawa currently just has none at all. I guess i find it hard to believe post Rideau Centre expansion The Bay is that much of a draw, even getting rid of the loading dock opens up room for improvement. The venue is a unique and siginicant addition that clearly has the opportunity to change how the area as a whole is percieved, but the cost for having that venue with that branding is giving up on having retail activation.
This is more of a general comment but my perspective is that while more activation' is obviously better than less 'activation', I feel like sometimes when people have discussions on "urbanism" the forest is missed for the trees and things like activation are talked about more as abstract equations instead of as important concepts which are part but not the whole of the situation.
To get back on topic to the Moxy, it's my sense that going off at least it's exterior execution and branding it will also be an addition which has the chance to create a positive impact on the perception of the area.
 
postingaboutottawa said:
Sure but other slightly older venues of similar capacity plugged into the live nation circuit are in "key downtown locations" in other cities, Ottawa currently just has none at all. I guess i find it hard to believe post Rideau Centre expansion The Bay is that much of a draw, even getting rid of the loading dock opens up room for improvement. The venue is a unique and siginicant addition that clearly has the opportunity to change how the area as a whole is percieved, but the cost for having that venue with that branding is giving up on having retail activation.
This is more of a general comment but my perspective is that while more activation' is obviously better than less 'activation', I feel like sometimes when people have discussions on "urbanism" the forest is missed for the trees and things like activation are talked about more as abstract equations instead of as important concepts which are part but not the whole of the situation.
To get back on topic to the Moxy, it's my sense that going off at least it's exterior execution and branding it will also be an addition which has the chance to create a positive impact on the perception of the area.
Click to expand...
I think that more activation' is obviously better than less 'activation'" is what we're saying too. The addition of Live Nation is welcome and should go a long way in revitalizing the Market further cementing it as a premier destination in the City, but some day time animation would be nice to have as well, but none isn't a deal breaker.

HBC itself probably wasn't a huge draw, but it animated its surroundings by being a throughfare thanks to the skybridge and Freeman Mall (and even Chapters acted as so when it was open). . If/when it closes, we won't have any way to get from Rideau to the Market between Sussex and William; that's nearly 200 meters of dead space. Some businesses in between might suffer a bit.

We could hope that CF tries to at least buy the Freeman Mall.

Back to the Moxy, it's overall a good building. The stepped design is unique in Ottawa, the balcony glass looks decent and of course I'm ecstatic for the preserved Major warehouse. AC's quality suffered, but they did much better here.
 
J.OT13 said:
I think that more activation' is obviously better than less 'activation'" is what we're saying too. The addition of Live Nation is welcome and should go a long way in revitalizing the Market further cementing it as a premier destination in the City, but some day time animation would be nice to have as well, but none isn't a deal breaker.

HBC itself probably wasn't a huge draw, but it animated its surroundings by being a throughfare thanks to the skybridge and Freeman Mall (and even Chapters acted as so when it was open). . If/when it closes, we won't have any way to get from Rideau to the Market between Sussex and William; that's nearly 200 meters of dead space. Some businesses in between might suffer a bit.

We could hope that CF tries to at least buy the Freeman Mall.

Back to the Moxy, it's overall a good building. The stepped design is unique in Ottawa, the balcony glass looks decent and of course I'm ecstatic for the preserved Major warehouse. AC's quality suffered, but they did much better here.
Click to expand...

Absolutely CF taking over the Freiman mall is a must. I'm not exactly sure how involved the conversion would be but I've been thinking for the last few months that an urban format Cineplex would be an ideal replacement for the main section of the former HBC west of the mall
 
postingaboutottawa said:
Absolutely CF taking over the Freiman mall is a must. I'm not exactly sure how involved the conversion would be but I've been thinking for the last few months that an urban format Cineplex would be an ideal replacement for the main section of the former HBC west of the mall
Click to expand...

You mean to replace the cinema complex they scrapped a few years ago, during the period when Ottawa scrapped all of its downtown first-run cinemas? I agree it would be great and would contribute to the revitalization and night-life initiatives, but are any of these being built downtown anywhere?
 
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