Simply renaming districts was never going to work for Ottawa in its continued effort to shed its reputation as "the city that fun forgot," and so the nation's capital is now taking bigger swings with the announcement of a new music venue and appointment of a nightlife commissioner.
Today, the National Capital Commission (NCC) announced it had signed an offer to lease an agreement with Live Nation Canada to operate a new live music and entertainment venue in Ottawa's downtown core.
The mid-size venue will open at 47-57 Rideau Street, which formerly housed a Chapters bookstore. The NCC asserts that the new space "will bring renewed life to the downtown core by bringing thousands of people to a variety of live events at the site each year."
The NCC says the new venue is expected to open in "late 2025, after the necessary renovations are made to the building."
"The NCC is pleased to play a positive role in the collective efforts of local partners to revitalize the downtown core of the Capital post-COVID," NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum said in a statement. "This new state-of-the-art live music and entertainment venue in the heart of downtown will be a great destination for residents and visitors, contribute to increased economic activity for local restaurants and shops, and generate vibrancy and excitement for the National Capital Region as a whole."
News of the new venue comes a day after Mathieu Grondin was introduced as Ottawa's first-ever "nightlife commissioner," a figure responsible for working with businesses, city officials and the public to develop the city's cultural economy between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Grondin, who was born and raised in Montreal, was the founder and director of nightlife non-profit organization MTL 24/24.
At a press conference Tuesday (June 11), he told reporters, "I have a lot of experience in nightlife governance and this job is about policymaking. I spent the last five years being a strategic partner with the City of Montreal to develop the nighttime economy ... This is my expertise — I've been going around the world, I've been studying nightlife management in other cities."