Somerset House owner toys with demo if reno costs too much
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 15, 2017 | Last Updated: March 15, 2017 5:52 PM EDT
Another design application to transform the once-grand Somerset House is hitting the political agenda, with the building owner inching closer to seeking complete demolition if he believes a renovation would cost too much money.
Tony Shahrasebi said he’ll file an application to demolish the entire building at Somerset and Bank streets and build a multi-storey replacement if the city’s requirements for a renovation are beyond what he’s willing to pay.
“We are talking to the city engineering department and they have to figure out what they want us to do,” Shahrasebi said Wednesday.
According to him, the city could order building fixes that could cost another $2 million. If that’s the case, Shahrasebi would rather raze the whole building and start fresh.
“The obstacle here is the structure and we’re trying to work it out,” he said.
It all depends how he wants to redevelop the building, the city says.
Richard Ashe, the city’s manager of permit approvals, said staff have held pre-consultations with Shahrasebi’s architect and engineer before a building permit application comes forward.
“In these types of things we try to have some dialogue up front,” Ashe said. “It’s really preliminary in the sense we don’t know what it is they want to propose.”
Ashe said it’s not easy redeveloping a heritage building with a contemporary addition.
“It’s tricky. It’s not straightforward.”
There’s also the matter of pleasing the city’s politicians and heritage watchdogs, who warmed up to the 2013 redevelopment proposal.
Shahrasebi has hired Chmiel Architects to continue the design work.
The city received the latest application on March 1 and the information has been circulated to the Centretown community association, Heritage Ottawa and the local councillor for comment.
The built heritage subcommittee is expected to review the application before sending a recommendation to the planning committee and council.
Somerset House was built in two phases starting in 1900. There was a partial collapse of the building during a renovation in 2007 and it has remained off-limits since then.
Shahrasebi brought the Citizen inside the building to see the condition last September before contractors, as approved by council, removed part of a wall along Somerset Street. There’s potential for a turnaround, but it could take years of work.
There’s also a question of who would be the main tenant. A drug store showed initial interest and more recently a brewery was sniffing around, Shahrasebi said.
The building has become the city’s chief example of demolition by neglect, but Shahrasebi maintains he has been trying to fix it up.
Shahrasebi still has no intention of selling the property.
“We need to get this moving,” he said.
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