Sunday, July 28, 2019

The Daly Building was owned by the Chateau Laurier.

Heritage Ottawa newsletter - Summer of 1984
Daly Building in grave danger.
   "Earlier reports indicated that CN Hotels were interested in restoring the Daly Building as an adjunct to the Chateau Laurier's own conference and meeting facilities, and were negotiating with the Department of Public Works to trade a piece of CN property for the Daly Building."
"...The trade has now taken place. CN swapped 30 acres of riverfront property they owned in Windsor...CN might insist that the government give them the right to demolish the building..."
"...Another sure thing dictated by economics is that CN will not replace the Daly with a mere 5-storey building. Instead, they will likely put up a high-rise that will dwarf the Chateau and the Conference Centre (Union Station) across the street. The Daly is an important building."
Contact: the Manager of the Chateau Laurier.
Mayor of Ottawa Marion Dewar
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Committees - Senate of Canada - Proceedings of the Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources-Issue 5 - February 17, 1998.
Three proposals for the vacant Daly Building land were presented-two were designated as "mixed-use" and the third called for condominiums and hotel suites in addition to retail stores. Preserving the Daly Building land as a park was never an option.
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How is this information relevant to what is happening now, with the new addition to the Chateau Laurier Hotel?
1.)  During the 1980's the hotel wanted vacant land in order to expand.
2.)  Major's Hill Park is 12-acre federal park owned by the people of Canada. The park is directly behind the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel.
Fairmont is a Fortune 500 company, one of the most powerful corporations in the country.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the National Capital Commission is planning to sell Major's Hill Park to Fairmont.

"FAIRMONT PLANNING ANOTHER HOTEL/CONDO IN MAJOR CANADIAN CITY"
     "The parent company of Fairmont Hotels is considering another hotel/condo project in Canada, as it delves further into the residential business."
     "Now if you look at where we are, I think we have 30 projects in the pipeline." (From: Globe and Mail, Tara Perkins, article updated May 12, 2018.)

The National Capital Commission sold Major's Hill Park land to the American government:
  The land where the American Embassy is now located was supposed to be part of Major's Hill Park:
"Major's Hill Park interfaces with the Ottawa River, Nepean Point and National Museum of Fine Arts to the north and northeast (the latter two separated from the park by St. Patrick Street.); Mackenzie Avenue to the east; and the Chateau Laurier hotel to the south; by implication, the National Capital Commission's parking lot, currently situated between Sussex and Mackenzie immediately north of the Connaught Building is included in the redevelopment of the park." (Major's Hill Park, MSpace, page 23.)
This land should have been part of Major's Hill Park. The National Capital Commission sold the green space and parking lot to the American Embassy for $12.4 million dollars.  (The photograph is from:" Dreams of Major's Hill Park" urbsite.)

3.)  The National Capital Commission divested many Crown properties:
The Ottawa Teacher's College - 195 Elgin Street, now part of Ottawa City Hall.
The Sir John Carling Building - Central Experimental Farm. National Headquarters of Agriculture Canada.
The Greenbelt  Research Farm in Nepean.
The Veteran's Affairs Canada property near Mooney's Bay, Moffat Farm.
Sixty acres of Experimental Farm land to the Civic Hospital and the federal Queen Juliana Park near Dow's Lake is being rezoned.


The Daly Building, 555 Mackenzie Avenue Ottawa.
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The influential Fraser Institute is calling for the devolution of federal parks in British Columbia. Major's Hill Park is a 14-acre federal park in Ottawa.


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