Major construction begins on historic Somerset House in Ottawa
Construction crews working at Somerset House in Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood on Friday. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa)
Major construction is set to begin Friday at Somerset House, the historic building in the heart of Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood.
The 129-year-old building at the corner of Somerset Street West and Bank Street has remained vacant since a partial collapse during renovations in 2007. The building, first erected in 1896, was a department store for the Crosby, Carruthers Company.
In 2023, council approved a plan to restore and stabilize the building and construct a three-store addition to the back. The plan is to build a mixed-use building with two commercial units at the ground and basement levels and 14 residential units.
In a post on Bluesky, Somerset coun. Ariel Troster said, 'Major construction finally begins this week' at Somerset House.
'This marks a significant turning point for the heritage property, which lay dormant for 17 years after a structural collapse,' Troster said.
'The Somerset House project supports downtown revitalization, new rental housing, and the preservation of heritage properties—key Council objectives. The renewed Somerset House will preserve its historic façade, add 14 rental units, include ground-floor retail, and contribute to local parkland.'
Somerset House
The owner of Somerset House has submitted an application to restore and stabilize the building on Somerset Street. (City of Ottawa documents)
Troster said with final approvals nearly complete for the project, cement pouring for the rear addition will begin on Friday.
'This project complements broader city investments in Bank Street's public realm and community safety, rolling out this summer,' Troster said.
The councillor says council's decision to provide development charge credits for designated heritage properties helped staff lead a 'coordinated effort to rebuild trust with the property owner to find a path forward.'
Somerset House is owned by TKS Holdings.
Nineteen orders have been issued under the Building Code Act for the property since 2007, and there were been 31 requests for service about the property since 2012, according to a city report in 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Construction underway at deeply affordable housing project in Kensington Market
What was once a parking lot in Kensington Market will soon be a four-storey building with deeply affordable homes. Construction of the 78-unit building at 35 Bellevue Avenue is underway. The project is part of the city's rapid housing initiative, which aims to create stable, supportive homes for those in need. "The majority of them will be 350-square-foot studios, so fairly compact, but will have everything you need," said Daniel Ling, a principal at Montgomery Sisam Architects. The common spaces include a communal kitchen, laundry facilities, ample bicycle parking and a private courtyard. "We wanted the residents to feel part of the community," he said. The building integrates wraparound support services, including meal programs, health care, education, and employment resources, making sure residents have the tools they need for long-term housing stability, Ling said. The building will be managed by St. Clare's Housing. "We have a very robust and successful tenant support model," said Andrea Adams, executive director of the organization. "It's one thing to house people but it's another to make sure they remain successfully housed, otherwise you're creating a revolving door of homelessness," she said. "Every time someone experiences homelessness, it's longer and harder, and you want to avoid that." The Kensington Market Community Land Trust says the project is a result of eight years of advocacy for the city to redevelop the underused lot into affordable housing. Ling says sustainability is also a priority. He hopes the mass timber structure — which also incorporates a green roof and solar panel system — serves as a model for future affordable housing builds that balance design and environmental responsibility. "On one hand we have to build a lot and build fast, on the other hand we have to find a sustainable way to build. This project is an example of tackling both issues in innovative ways."
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Canadian chip company Untether AI winding down operations
Promising Canadian chip startup Untether AI Corp. is winding down after failing to raise money earlier this year, and its engineering employees will be transferred to American company Advanced Micro Devices AMD-T. The arrangement is known as an 'acquihire,' in which one company strikes a deal with another to gain access to talent instead of products or services. Toronto-based Untether designed computer chips for artificial intelligence applications such as autonomous vehicles, robots and drones, and said its products were far more energy efficient than others on the market. But the company pivoted too late to the hardware market for powering generative AI applications, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to two sources familiar with the matter, and struggled to compete against the dominance of Nvidia Corp. NVDA-T in the chip market. Economic uncertainty owing to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff agenda contributed to difficulties raising new funds from investors this year, one of the sources said. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to discuss the matter. Untether said in a statement on its website Thursday that it had entered into a 'strategic agreement' with chipmaker AMD, which is based in California. 'While today marks the end of Untether AI's journey, we are proud of the pioneering research that underpinned our work,' the statement read. The company added it will no longer supply or support its hardware and software products. AMD said in a statement to trade publication CRN that it is acquiring 'a talented team of AI hardware and software engineers' from Untether. One source said the value of the deal would likely be less than US$100-million depending on how many employees agree to join AMD. The source added that Meta Platforms Inc., which is working on custom chips for AI applications, was also in talks with Untether. It is not clear what will happen to Untether's intellectual property, which is not part of the transaction, but the source said it could be sold separately. Neither Untether nor AMD immediately replied to a request for comment. From 2024: Toronto's Untether straps in for growth selling AI chips - but can it avoid getting crushed by Nvidia? Chris Walker, Untether's chief executive, left the company in May, according to his LinkedIn profile. He did not reply to The Globe and Mail. Untether was founded in 2018 and received funding from Intel Capital, Radical Ventures, GM Ventures and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The company has raised around $150-million. That means given the potential value of the deal, investors are likely not recouping the total amount they invested. However, losses will depend on when investors first put money into Untether. The company's products were built on the research of co-founder and former University of Toronto professor Martin Snelgrove, who pioneered a different computer chip architecture. The dominant approach to chip-making has followed a design laid out by mathematician and physicist John von Neumann in 1945, but that design wastes a lot of energy shuttling data around. Untether cut the distance data must travel by placing memory and processing units side-by-side on the hardware. Untether pursued the self-driving vehicle market and other systems that use a form of AI know as computer vision, which involves detecting and interpreting objects in videos and images. But the AI world changed with the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, as companies became obsessed with generative AI and chatbots. Nvidia became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world as large tech firms scrambled to purchase chips to install inside data centres for training AI models. Untether aimed to compete with Nvidia in the much larger market for powering AI inference, the term for using an AI model after it is built, such as asking a question of ChatGPT. Independent tests gave Untether's products high marks. MLCommons, an industry and academic consortium that benchmarks AI systems, found last year that one of Untether's chips was six times more energy efficient than competing products, and with lower latency, in one testing category. But Untether's push into the market for chips housed in data centres for generative AI may have come too late, especially given Nvidia's scale and reputation. The California-based company is worth close to US$3.5-trillion.
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Canada to seek agreements in global peace, energy security and new partnerships at G7, Carney says
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the G7 leaders' summit later this month in Alberta will see Canada seeking agreements in three key areas. Carney released a statement today saying Canada's top priority will be strengthening global peace and security, which includes countering foreign interference and transnational crime, as well as improving responses to wildfires. To spur economic growth, the prime minster says he will focus on improving energy security by fortifying supply chains for critical minerals and accelerating the use of artificial intelligence. As well, Carney says Canada will try to generate jobs by securing partnerships that will open new markets and generate big investments in infrastructure. The G7 summit is being held just outside Calgary. Here's who will be there and what these meetings achieve Carney defends decision to invite Indian PM to G7 summit in Alberta Meanwhile, Carney says other discussions will explore securing a lasting peace in Ukraine, and reaching out to partners beyond the G7 to 'build coalitions with reliable partners.' The meeting, to be held in Kananaskis, Alta., from June 15 to 17, is expected to bring together leaders from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted an invitation to the summit on Friday. 'Canada has what the world wants and the values to which others aspire,' Carney said in the statement. 'The G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis is a moment for Canada to work with reliable partners to meet challenges with unity, purpose, and force. Canada is ready to lead.'
