Lansdowne plan worries Old Ottawa South

Businesses and residents in the neighbourhood just south of Lansdowne Park are worried that adding big box stores and hosting concerts there could boost traffic and hurt local stores.

"It's not the right scale for this size of community," said Brian Tansey, a spokesman for the Old Ottawa South Community Association. "The core of this thing is big-box retail."

The city is considering the Lansdowne Partnership Plan brought forward by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which proposes building a stores, restaurants, townhouses and condo towers on the site in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood, just across the Bank Street Bridge from Old Ottawa South.

Under the plan, the park's Frank Clair Stadium would host Canadian Football League games, as well as soccer games and concerts.

Arthur McGregor, owner of the Ottawa Folklore Centre music store, said he thinks adding more retail stores at Lansdowne will drive shoppers away from his neighbourhood, which is across the Bank Street Bridge from the park. He added that parking is already a nightmare along Bank Street.

Neither does McGregor think the Lansdowne complex would draw more customers to the stores along Bank Street.

McGregor said there are two kinds of shoppers — some who go to "malls" such as the complex being proposed at Lansdowne, and others who prefer street shopping.

"The two rarely mix. There won't be any spillover," he said. "People will not walk out of that area."

Ross Hamilton, owner of the Delusions of Grandeur furniture and art store at Bank Street and Cameron Avenue, is of a different opinion.

He said none of the stores in Old Ottawa South is "much of a destination."

"But if there was something within a few blocks of here that was large enough to draw people — in the long run, it may draw people down here."