Rideau Centre Expansion | Completed

[J.OT13]

Part 9 on the Rideau Centre story.


http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2014/03/rideau-centre-history-part-9-dreams-of.html

[mac_junkie1]

Welcome to Ottawa, where no one can get their sh*t straight.... Specially our "lovely" downtown. I'm not a big fan of the renos on the RC... Their ugly, bland and too modern. This stuff will look dated so fast.... But whatever, its not my money. I only care about 1 part of this thing. I don't really shop at the Rideau Centre and The Bay only has bathrooms that serve my purpose, so that's about it. I must say though the changes in The Bay are very positive. Its getting a nice makeover all these years later. Its neat.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Even Simon's will be the second one to open in the NCR. Les Promenades' will open first.

As much as I would love downtown to open new to market stores first, I'm not sad the Rideau is now lagging behind. They delayed their expansion plans multiple times over the last 15 years and never took advantage of the damn Ogilvy building, sitting there vacant or partly vacant for 20 years.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by mac_junkie1

Welcome to Ottawa, where no one can get their sh*t straight.... Specially our "lovely" downtown. I'm not a big fan of the renos on the RC... Their ugly, bland and too modern. This stuff will look dated so fast.... But whatever, its not my money. I only care about 1 part of this thing. I don't really shop at the Rideau Centre and The Bay only has bathrooms that serve my purpose, so that's about it. I must say though the changes in The Bay are very positive. Its getting a nice makeover all these years later. Its neat.

I went to HBC on March 16th and didn't really notice anything except one small boxed in area (near the escalators I believe) for construction. So what have they been doing recently?

And ya, I too am disappointed with the RC's renos and I absolutely hate the mismatched façades shown in the renders. And that big canopy shit over the "main" entrance directly west of the Ogilvy façade will really over shadow the graceful old walls of CO. They'd better do a damn good job with the restoration as it will be their only saving grace in my book.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

And ya, I too am disappointed with the RC's renos and I absolutely hate the mismatched façades shown in the renders. And that big canopy shit over the "main" entrance directly west of the Ogilvy façade will really over shadow the graceful old walls of CO. They'd better do a damn good job with the restoration as it will be their only saving grace in my book.

I actually like the mismatched facades. It looks a little like Bloor Street instead of looking like the Yonge Street side of the Eaton Centre. What would you want to see from the renos that would be an improvement over what Cadillac Fairview has come up with?

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by mac_junkie1

Welcome to Ottawa, where no one can get their sh*t straight.... Specially our "lovely" downtown. I'm not a big fan of the renos on the RC... Their ugly, bland and too modern. This stuff will look dated so fast.... But whatever, its not my money. I only care about 1 part of this thing. I don't really shop at the Rideau Centre and The Bay only has bathrooms that serve my purpose, so that's about it. I must say though the changes in The Bay are very positive. Its getting a nice makeover all these years later. Its neat.

Too modern? What would you want to see? Wood and crown moulding? I don't see how metal, glass, white tiles, and a fresh coat of paint will be dated quickly. What would you do differently?

[Mr.Flintstone]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Part 9 on the Rideau Centre story.


http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2014/03/rideau-centre-history-part-9-dreams-of.html

Reading these post has made me really depressed. Seeing what the city could have had.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

I actually like the mismatched facades. It looks a little like Bloor Street instead of looking like the Yonge Street side of the Eaton Centre. What would you want to see from the renos that would be an improvement over what Cadillac Fairview has come up with?

To me, it looks like a mismatch of cheap materials they got from the salvage yard. Heck, I can't even tell what kind of material they used (green shit with vertical lines, wtf is that?). And like I said, that big canopy above the main entrance just west of the Ogilvy, it takes away from the restored façade.

I would have liked something that's a little more sensitive to the historic buildings/façades attached to the Rideau. Something that lets the centennial parts stand out. Maybe (and I'm not usually a fan, but...) even replicating the former historic façades, which were very well done but did not overshadow the stunning Ogilvy and Transportation Building, with a few modern façades around the gaps where nothing existed worth replicating.

That way, Rideau would look like a lineup of independent historic storefronts, not a mall with cheap tacked-on modernish façade. The only feature I like about the design is the screen with curved corner above the Ogilvy façade.

As for the interior, I would have preferred something more like the Eaton Centre in TO. Modern, yet still welcoming. Warmer sort of colours.

1916 Rideau Street:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Electric_Railway

Eaton Centre interior:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Eaton_Centre

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I went to HBC on March 16th and didn't really notice anything except one small boxed in area (near the escalators I believe) for construction. So what have they been doing recently?

And ya, I too am disappointed with the RC's renos and I absolutely hate the mismatched façades shown in the renders. And that big canopy shit over the "main" entrance directly west of the Ogilvy façade will really over shadow the graceful old walls of CO. They'd better do a damn good job with the restoration as it will be their only saving grace in my book.

I walk through everyday, so here are some of the changes I've noticed:

First, they closed the most of the basement to do a quickie paint and floor job.
Now they've closed the Marlin Travel on the ground floor and moved it to the basement, along with much of what was on the ground floor womenswear area. The womenswear area is now about half closed off for renovations.

They seem to be taking a slow and incremental approach to this job, with little announcement or fanfare.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by gjhall

I walk through everyday, so here are some of the changes I've noticed:

First, they closed the most of the basement to do a quickie paint and floor job.
Now they've closed the Marlin Travel on the ground floor and moved it to the basement, along with much of what was on the ground floor womenswear area. The womenswear area is now about half closed off for renovations.

They seem to be taking a slow and incremental approach to this job, with little announcement or fanfare.

That's too bad. They made a huge deal about Vancouver and Toronto. Better not mean they'll do the Ottawa renos on the cheap.

[mac_junkie1]

Yea.. they better do a good job on the CO facade.

As for HBC, use the real Freiman doors off Rideau (not the stupid arcade) and as you walk in towards the back you'll see they've started to pull tarps down there showing a newer look. Now they've transitioned towards the elevators. Real war zone on the lower level. Also the basement area of the arcade has new tiles. Much nicer looking then the RC tiles.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I went to HBC on March 16th and didn't really notice anything except one small boxed in area (near the escalators I believe) for construction. So what have they been doing recently?

And ya, I too am disappointed with the RC's renos and I absolutely hate the mismatched façades shown in the renders. And that big canopy shit over the "main" entrance directly west of the Ogilvy façade will really over shadow the graceful old walls of CO. They'd better do a damn good job with the restoration as it will be their only saving grace in my book.

[teej1984]

I heard they are installing a MASSIVE TopMan and TopShop on the ground floor, to be opened by 2015.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

As for the interior, I would have preferred something more like the Eaton Centre in TO. Modern, yet still welcoming. Warmer sort of colours.

In my opinion, parts of the Eaton Centre interior already look dated compared to Yorkdale and Square One. I'd take their modern designs over Eaton Centre's.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by teej1984

I heard they are installing a MASSIVE TopMan and TopShop on the ground floor, to be opened by 2015.

Cool. PLEASE let there be doors on the street!

[mac_junkie1]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

Too modern? What would you want to see? Wood and crown moulding? I don't see how metal, glass, white tiles, and a fresh coat of paint will be dated quickly. What would you do differently?

actually yes, thats exactly what id like to see for some things, maybe not for RC, but theyre taking what i call the "euro-trash" look. I hate "modern" or bland or stuff like that... it'll look dated quick. the plans for the 2006 renos which they had started inside but never built the addition outside was MUCH nicer then what theyre doing now... the interior wood panels and wood railings were much nicer then bland white and glass everywhere.... why follow this ugly trend. in 10-15 years, they'll just rip it out and do something different. if it was up to me, the entire RC would be bulldozed and something much nicer put in its place. RC was a stupid idea in the first place and so poorly executed. After taking 10 years to make decisions, that in itself should've been a wakeup call that it wasn't a good idea. There was nothing wrong with the heart of downtown being mom & pop shops, but instead people got greedy and this commercial blunder is what we got instead. i hate supporting big corporations. i like shopping mom and pop shops. support local and talk to people. you walk into most stores today and its some punk kid playing with their cell phones rather then helping customers. sickens me. if i was their employer and i caught one person using their phones on the sales floor, they'd be terminated immediately. we live in such a messed up world... its sad to see what its become. BORING. i enjoy just walking around mindlessly admiring things and enjoying life rather then stay indoors and be a fat ass at my computer. with the snow melting, ill be outside with my camera often mindlessly walking around downtown and just checking out the progress on the many projects going on weather their good or not. it sure beats sitting at home doing nothing....

I don't care if people agree with me or not... That's just my opinion... I'm glad change is happening in RC... Its ugly as it sits, so I'll judge properly when its done. They had the chance to do something nice, but C/F doesn't give 2 shits about Ottawa's heritage. Its all about corporate greed. That's it. At least were lucky part of Ogilvy's is being put back up properly. If it was up to them, it wouldn't happen. If Viking had gotten their wish, it would've been a parking lot back in 1999 when the demolition order was coughed up. Something is better then nothing.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by mac_junkie1

but C/F doesn't give 2 shits about Ottawa's heritage. Its all about corporate greed. That's it.

I mean, it's a business, and businesses seek profits for shareholders, sure, but it's owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, not the Koch Brothers.

[McC]

There was that awesome time when Ontario teachers were staging wildcat strike actions while Teachers'-owned Maple Leaf* Foods permanently shut down a processing plant because the workers had gone on strike. Not a full-Koch by any means, but definitely registered on the scale!

[update]
*or possibly Schneiders, the two merged around that time, but they may or may not have been the same company at that exact moment
[/update]

[S-Man]

There was that awesome time when Ontario teachers were staging wildcat strike actions while Teachers'-owned Maple Leaf* Foods permanently shut down a processing plant because the workers had gone on strike. Not a full-Koch by any means, but definitely registered on the scale!

[update]
*or possibly Schneiders, the two merged around that time, but they may or may not have been the same company at that exact moment
[/update]

Great, now I'm hungry.

[McC]

your cholesterol and sodium levels will thank me.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by McC

your cholesterol and sodium levels will thank me.

mmmmm, union busting union owned meat

[S-Man]

Enough! I'm going to DiRienzo's as we speak.