As a local I'll come out and say that I don't feel good about this plan, having watched so many independent enterpreneurs relocate elsewhere as older commercial and light industrial spaces are re-developed, and leases skyrocket accordingly.
The irony is that it changes the fabric of a community significantly, and is a loss of the very diversity and mix that make these older neighbourhoods so much more appealing than life in suburban sub-divisions. Fingers crossed that urban life in Ottawa isn't destined to be the domain of Starbucks and Shoppers Drug Mart.
