"The Mall is the National Capital Commission's public enemy No. 1." Macleans magazine.

"Sparks Street: The five-block, eastwest pedestrian mall and surrounding area is the NCC's public enemy No. 1." (From: "Tidying up a mess"/Macleans Magazine-September 3, 2001.)
"It's Crown against town and sparks are flying as the National Capital Commission prepares to demolish an entire block in downtown Ottawa. City officials, businessmen and private citizens alike fear that the NCC's plan to raze Sparks Street and replace it with office towers, apartments, stores and restaurants will destroy rather than revitalize the downtown core." (From: The Globe and Mail newspaper, May 2, 2001.)
The National Capital Commission owned all the property on the southern side of the Mall. It has been privatized.

"Now the corporation is determined to spearhead the revitalization of Sparks Street. In the last month the corporation has purchased two buildings on the south side of Sparks Street for a future mixed-use development. By 2006, with $40 million granted by the federal government, the NCC plans to have an entire block of buildings along Sparks Street converted into a complex of retail, commercial and condominiums. It's expected the developer will demolish the buildings---with the possibility of saving some of the Victorian-era facades. (Ottawa's second-class citizens, Globe and Mail newspaper, March 22, 2000.)

The buildings south of Wellington may be subjected to a facadectomy. Map is from "Sparks Street-The Commercial and Banking Centre".

The Birks Building.