CBC Charlottetown building on University Avenue

There has been a corporate-wide cost saving trend at the CBC towards leasing, rather owning the their buildings. The current CBC building is inaccessible on that lonely stretch of University Avenue,  isolated across four lanes of busy traffic from the fast food joints and auto repair shops that line the strip. It is not a pedestrian friendly destination. As gregarious and likeable as their on-air hosts are, their physical location makes it difficult to fully engage with the community.

Downtown Charlottetown offers several large vacant properties that would suit the CBC’s purposes very well and situate CBC reporters close to Province House, City Hall, provincial and federal government buildings, theaters, major events, music venues and people. Imagine Mitch and Matt doing Island Morning in a storefront location like K-ROCK and OCEAN (they’re lucky to catch a ray of daylight from their current studio bunker). Picture yourself watching Bruce broadcast Compass live from a street front studio and Boomer reporting weather from the sidewalk! Imagine being able to walk in off the street for an impromptu chat with Karen on Mainstreet.

I think CBC would be such an exciting tenant to have in our downtown and would contribute enormously to our cultural and social fabric in a way that is not possible where they currently are. Islanders are dedicated listeners and viewers; CBC PEI consistently has ratings well above the national average. A move downtown would bring the CBC closer to the public, revitalize both the organization and our city, and create a fresh new relationship with our public broadcaster.

Continue reading below for examples of what CBC is doing in other cities, and that illustrate what is possible here.

QUEBEC

CBC/Radio-Canada - store front location in Quebec City

2004: Quebec City — CBC/Radio-Canada has completed its move to the heart of the capital! Now housed at 888 Saint-Jean, CBC/Radio-Canada’s Quebec City media lines are better positioned than ever before to serve citizens in the greater Quebec City area and across Canada.

“This is an exciting day for CBC/Radio-Canada,” said Carole Taylor, O.C., Chair, CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors. “As this country’s national public broadcaster we provide Canadians with a space where they can connect with one another. Being in the heart of the city will enable us to strengthen even more our connection to the people of Quebec, just as a public broadcaster should.”

OTTAWA

CBC Ottawa on pedestrian-only Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa.

The CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre on Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa. Built and owned by Morguard Investments, the space is leased by the CBC. The site had been vacant for several years and had previously been home to a Woolworths department store. Several of the studios and the newsroom are located at ground level on Sparks Street, allowing the public to observe from outside through 4 metre high (more than 12 feet) windows.

HALIFAX

CBC is consolidating radio and TV under one roof in downtown Halifax

CBC will sell its landmark building on Sackville Street in downtown Halifax and house all of its radio and television operations under one roof on Bell Road (NEARBY) … “I hope that Haligonians see this as CBC is renewing its commitment to Nova Scotia and remaining an important part of the downtown fabric,” More immediately, as soon as tomorrow the CBC will initiate the paperwork for the Bell Road construction. That plan calls for a 35,000 square foot addition in the parking lot, filling in the “L” shape, and then renovating the existing 52,000 square foot building. The new space will become “a big integrated newsroom,” says Cochran. “That’s for radio, television, online, news, current affairs, English, French, all together, with studios and edit suites and everything else adjacent. So, a large, modern, integrated newsroom.”

Other CBC locations in the heart of their respective downtowns:

VANCOUVER

After almost three years of construction and renos, the makeover of the 246,000-square-foot CBC/Radio Canada Broadcast Centre in downtown Vancouver was completed in 2009.
TORONTO

Canadian Broadcasting Centre (Toronto)

There’s always something happening at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, and you can be a part of it! Meet your favourite hosts, preview our newest programs before they go to air, attend live tapings of shows like George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, Steven & Chris and the Rick Mercer Report, watch and listen to stunning performances at Glenn Gould Studio and join us for special events throughout the year.

This was a complicated file. Because it was an as-of-right application, meeting all requirements of the bylaw, National Building Code and the National Fire Protection Association codes NFPA 1 [Fire Code] and NFPA 30 [Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code] , the permit was issued by staff and council was not even aware of the development until it was underway. This is normal; Council is not involved in applications where all requirements are met. Staff were diligent in their examination of the safety issues involved and determined the risks were acceptable.

Would this apartment building be my first choice of residence, wedged as it is between the Trans-Canada and a chemical plant? Probably not. The property is zoned Highway Commercial (C2) but the developer chose, as was his right, to build a residential building.

IRAC ruled in favour of the city while seeming to go out of its way to appear even-handed, but in the process offered up contradictions and what amounts to editorial opinion on matters that were not within its mandate to review.

Mr. Dark presented the plan to City Council a few weeks ago. It is a bold plan – some would say radical – to transform the area into an inviting destination in our city. Mr. Dark is a very experienced planning consultant. His presentation of the plan and explanation of the planning principles involved is worth hearing in person. I encourage you to attend.

Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Time: In the afternoon at 2:00pm and in the evening at 7:00pm.
Place: Georgian Room at the Charlottetown Hotel

Keep in mind, it is a concept of what could be achieved over the long term. It would literally take decades and many millions of dollars to fully implement, but if adopted by council it will be a guiding plan for all future planning decisions in the area.

what is…

h/t Ruk

and what will be… The Grand Holman Hotel.

Click here for full view of south elevation.

Here are alternate views from the Seaport wharf, and from the water. And here the site plan.

Councillor says city must act on vacant downtown properties
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian
23/01/09

Coun. Rob Lantz says the City of Charlottetown needs to act on the number of vacant properties in the downtown core.
The city approved a height variance request from Homburg Invest Inc. on Thursday, which paves the way for a proposed $45-million, three-phase development to go ahead.
Homburg is moving ahead with plans to construct an eight-storey office building on Fitzroy Street, a 10-storey hotel on Grafton Street and major renovations to the interior and exterior of Confederation Court Mall.
Lantz said if Homburg is going to show that much faith in downtown Charlottetown the city corporation should help mitigate the risk by making sure the core is firing on all cylinders.
“That can’t happen when a significant number of important buildings are left empty and in such a state of disrepair that they can’t even be leased, even if the owner was prepared to lease them,’’ Lantz said.
“We need to engage the owner of these properties, along with the two other levels of government and the business community, and find a way to get these spaces back in the market, whatever that takes.’’
Homburg has launched a $5-million lawsuit against Nemir Tweel Corp. Ltd., Christopher Tweel and two companies identified only as 2950243 Canada Inc. and 100946 P.E.I. Inc., all which own a number of properties in the downtown, alleging the properties are rundown and affect the developer’s current business (Confederation Court Mall) and what they are currently planning to do.
“If the owners are unwilling to make the necessary investments, perhaps
they should sell instead of sitting on these properties. They’re too important to sit empty.’’

This area of the Charlottetown waterfront is a Comprehensive Development Area, or a special planning area, and because this new proposal is significantly different from the spa/hotel/condo plan that was originally approved for that site more than two years ago, the approval process must start again from the beginning.
Tomorrow night at council’s monthly public meeting we will vote to “…proceed to the public consultation phase to consider an amendment to the Waterfront Development Concept Plan…”.

Assuming this resolution passes, a public meeting on the new condo proposal will be scheduled sometime before Christmas, I would think. The developer has indicated he would like to get started on some of the early prep work this winter.

UPDATE: The public meeting is scheduled for November 26th, 7:00pm, at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel (Georgian Room).

“I tried to go commercial with this site but once I heard the opposition from the Community I knew it was time to withdraw our application and that is exactly what we did. Steve may have to do the same if he wants customers?” 

The [Island Community] fund will be used to help finance a new parking garage in downtown Charlottetown that will be part of a multi-million dollar redevelopment in the downtown core that includes a hotel and condos at the Shops of the Confederation Court Mall;

The developer can not meet the physical parking requirements for this project(s). The Zoning & Development Bylaw allows developers to pay the City cash for each space, if they cannot provide the necessary parking (which is calculated by a formula). Tomorrow, at a special public meeting, City Council will vote to allocate all of the parking cash payable from this development to the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation in order to construct a new parking garage. The City owns and maintains the three current parkades, but CADC will build, own and operate the new parkade, if the resolution passes. This is seen as an attractive proposition because the City’s only contribution is a one-time transfer of the cash-in-lieu paid by the developer. CADC will finance the rest with money from the province.

Also, the City recently received the final draft report of the Downtown Charlottetown Parking Strategy. The construction of a new parking garage is not central to that strategy, and it is clear that a new parking garage will not solve all of our parking woes. I have indicated to Council that my support for tomorrow’s resolution is contingent on the Parking Strategy being substantially implemented, although I will have no guarantee that it will before the meeting.

Despite the perception created by some of the unfortunate quotes in the article, the city’s position has not changed with respect to Upton Farms; Council fully supports keeping the Farm green. At least two other Councillors and the Mayor have been in touch with Network members to clarify.

The developer is paying the city’s share for the extension down to Poplar Island, and the city is installing a small amount of supporting infrastructure to accommodate any future growth in demand in the area. That’s all.  The city pays virtually nothing for the expansion and reaps the benefit of a substantial property tax bill payable by the factory well into the future. It is in no way related to Canada Lands’ shelved plan to develop a portion of Upton Farm.

In other cases, property owners seem unwilling to lease their space. Are they just content to pay the property taxes on a vacant building rather than pay for expensive upgrades and renovations and take their risks in a competitive market? If yes, the provincial Real Property Assessment Act is potentially underwriting that risk averse trend, costing the City of Charlottetown unknown thousands (millions?) in tax revenue, not to mention the eyesore of dilapidated, boarded-up buildings in our downtown core.

The reason is right in the definitions on page 1 & 2 of the Act. Commercial is property that is used by a business. If you don’t have a business running you default to non-commercial.

(d) “commercial realty” means real property owned by the Crown or any person, used or occupied by any industry, trade, business, profession, vocation or government business and includes real property used or occupied

(i) “non-commercial realty” means all real property except commercial realty;

Essentially, once the business moves out a property no longer meets the definition of a commercial property in the Assessment Act. And as you can see from this table, that’s quite a significant drop in your tax bill, and all you have to do is close shop!

So this has nothing to do with municipal zoning (i.e. commercial vs. residential) which is a planning tool, but rather how the province defines properties for assessment purposes. In my opinion, once your building is vacant and in disrepair, this is an incentive to avoid the risks of re-entering the commercial property market. And by all accounts this is one source of the problem in Charlottetown.

What is the answer? Are commercial tax rates just too high, generally? Would forcing vacant property owners to pay the commercial rate really be enough incentive for them to get back in the game and make a go of it? Or is the commercial rate just too much of a burden for some property owners to overcome?

I don’t have the answers to these questions. But there is discussion on council about trying to correct this situation and I hope we do what’s best to create a vibrant and successful commercial environment in downtown Charlottetown.

Secondly, the city’s Planning Board recommended against an application to rezone a property on St. Peter’s Rd. for the purpose of a possible grocery store, among other things, because there are already two large parcels of land in the immediate vicinity that allow for commercial development such as supermarkets, shopping centres, grocery stores, retail stores, etc. Councillor Devine’s point, which was not entirely clear in the comments attributed to her, is that we need to strengthen the existing undeveloped commercial nodes in East Royalty, rather than creating more commercial space by rezoning existing residential property. The issue is not whether the residents of East Royalty should or should not have a supermarket or other commercial developments in their neighbourhood. It was the opinion of Planning Board that the property in question need not be rezoned for such development to take place in East Royalty.

Incidentally, this story sparked a conversation with a small grocery store operator in my ward yesterday. He expressed surprise that anyone would want into the increasingly competitive and difficult grocery market in Charlottetown. For small operators such as him, Sunday shopping has simply made an already crowded market even more difficult to compete in.