Alayne McGregor
The largest business improvement area (BIA) in Centretown has rebranded itself as the Centretown BIA, and is planning to expand its boundaries.
Formerly the Bank Street BIA, it now is looking to serve businesses on Somerset, Gladstone, Flora, Laurier, Slater, Albert, Arlington, Catherine, Kent, and O’Connor as well. It currently represents 150 properties on 15 blocks of Bank Street in Centretown; according to its new strategic plan, that would increase to 1000 members.
At the same time, the Sparks Street BIA is also considering expansion.
“A huge change in how we look at our downtown core”
The rebranding was announced at an event August 2. It comes as downtown businesses have had to readjust to fewer customers caused by hybrid work, plus the discouragement of continued LRT breakdowns and the lingering effects of the 2022 convoy occupation. Some businesses, mostly recently Sports4, have moved out of downtown.
Michael Wallack, the BIA chair, described the announcement as a huge change of direction, “a change in how we look at our downtown core.” The BIA started this strategic planning process during the pandemic, he said. “We realized that nothing is going back to normal, and never will.”
BIA Executive Director Christine Leadman said that the reception of the rebranding has been “very positive. One of the things that we found was Bank Street is a very long street, so when we would say Bank Street, they would say, ‘You’re from Bank Street South or Old Ottawa South or the Glebe.’ It was never Centretown.”
The new name “encapsulates where we are. And with the expansion as well, it even speaks more to that. It does speak to us representing the Centretown area.”
The BIA’s new slogan will be “Uncommon to the core.”
“We’re a very diverse community and we have to embrace that,” Leadman said. “We a have a little grit, we’re a little edgy, and we’re the centre of the city.”
“There needs to be more support – to understand that if we’re going to survive, if our city is going to do well and [retain] the economic vitality of our city, we need to have all areas of the city supporting each other, and particularly the core. Because without a strong core, your city becomes endangered.”
A two-year process
She expected the change to take “close to two years,” and said it was supported by the Downtown Revitalization Task Force.
Leadman said that the budget for the expanded BIA would reflect the services it provides to businesses, such as graffiti removal, its mural program, and banners and flyers. “That would be built out as we move along; there’s no set budget as yet.” The 2022 Bank Street BIA budget was $923,400, and its levy on businesses was $691,508, according to figures provided by the Ottawa Coalition of BIAs (OCOBIA).
The BIA’s strategic plan for the next decade also includes goals of an 80:20 ratio of specialist stores to big box/franchisees stores; a zero percent vacancy rate; and establishing 20 patios, five outdoor convening spaces, 10 murals/public art, and eight new greenspaces.
BIAs are created by the City of Ottawa at the request of businesses and property owners in a specific area. They beautify their areas with improvements like benches and flowers; they promote economic development in their areas; they run events and festivals like Glow Fair or night markets.
Each commercial property in a BIA pays a levy towards the BIA, which is collected along with property taxes by the city. Both these property owners and their commercial tenants belong to the BIA and have a vote in its decisions. Each BIA is governed by an elected board of management.
Any change to a BIA, including to its boundaries, must be approved by Ottawa City Council and the affected businesses.
Ivan Gedz of Union 613 attended the event both on behalf of his restaurant and for the Somerset Village BIA on Somerset Street West between Bank and O’Connor. He said the change was “phenomenal”, and that his BIA is looking at merging with the new Centretown BIA.
Sparks Street BIA also looking at expansion
Kevin McHale, the executive director of the Sparks Street BIA, said the Centretown BIA’s rebranding “looks fabulous. I think it will make a great connection between the business community and the local population that it serves.” Over the last few years, he said, BIAs had been looking at their roles in and connections to the local community.
“There are a lot of areas of downtown that we realized, during and after the convoy, that didn’t have a BIA presence. Because of that, they weren’t aware of a lot of things that were going on, funds that were available to them. They really felt they were isolated and alone. One of the biggest roles of a BIA is to ensure that its members know what’s going on around them, help them with community stuff and things with the city.”
He said the Sparks Street BIA may expand to some surrounding areas – “something that geographically and logically makes sense” – but is still in preliminary discussions with business and property owners in its area, as well as with the Centretown BIA.
“We realized there were a lot of businesses and property owners that weren’t necessarily connected, so that’s what we’re in the process of exploring now. We’re not in a rush to do this.”
Yukang Li, the executive director of the Chinatown BIA, said that he didn’t expect the change to the Centretown BIA’s boundaries to affect his BIA, which covers Somerset Street West between Bay and Preston. He said that his BIA has discussed boundary changes but doing that would take time and resources, and perhaps could be considered in 2024.
Support from Councillor Troster, CCA
Somerset Ward Councillor Ariel Troster approved of the name change – “Centretown is how we all describe our community” – and the expansion: “I know there are a lot of businesses around the Bank Street area that are not officially part of the BIA, so I think it makes sense for the BIA to be able to represent more businesses.”
Centretown Community Association (CCA) President Mary Huang said the change was a great idea, since the name more clearly reflected the actual boundaries and the expansion would include more businesses.