QC pitches new office building at four corners

MICHAELA RODRIGUE

IQALUIT — Qikiqtaaluk Corp. wants Iqaluit Town Council to approve a major new retail and office complex on Iqaluit’s four corners, on the site once occupied by the old T-1 building.

The Inuit birthright development corporation unveiled detailed designs for a 45,000-square-foot, three-storey office and retail complex on the north-east side of Iqaluit’s four corners intersection.

At 45,000 square feet, the building is approximately 25 per cent larger than the Nunavut legislative assembly building just down the street from it.

The proposed building is expected to be finished by next November.

The Royal Bank is expected to be the anchor tenant, committee members were told. If that goes through, the building will be painted gold with a blue trim, similar to the Royal Bank’s corporate colours.

Exemption to bylaw needed

But because it stands 2.6 metres above Iqaluit’s height limits and the front steps are eight feet beyond the required setback, QC needs town council to grant an exception to its zoning bylaw.

The proposed building also needs council approval because it’s larger than 1,000 square metres.

Last week, at a development, works and public safety committee, the building’s architect, Ambrose Livingstone, of Livingstone Architect and QC’s Barbara Lee made their pitch to councillors.

“We believe we have a very attractive plan. There’s nothing plain about it,” Livingstone told committee members.

Qikiqtaaluk plans to begin driving piles for the building next month, and hopes to have construction completed by November.

But committee members asked Livingstone and Lee to come back with more information before they would recommend that a variance be granted.

Committee chair Matthew Spence says he’s worried that the development and the placement of necessary parking spaces would hamper the Town’s vision of creating a pedestrian plaza by the legislative assembly building.

QC plans to include 83 new parking spaces with the development. Forty, along with an electric bar to plug cars into, will be on site at the east side of the building.

The remaining 43 would be on the north and east sides of the Parnaivik building.

But Spence said this might block pedestrian traffic through the proposed plaza.

“I want to give this Town an opportunity to build a legislative plaza, some sort of venue that we can use as a public place,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of them putting in a powered rail for parking. I’d like that parking to be someplace else,” he said.

QC and the Town are now discussing possible alternate sites for parking. One possible location would be the municipal garage beside the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association building.

But Spence said the height variance request doesn’t bother him because the Town is considering raising up the allowable height of buildings to 15 metres in its next zoning bylaw.

Spence also said the committee does not want to harm QC’s investment.

“You know QC has invested a great deal of work,” Spence said. “That’s got to be balanced against what influence we as a community can now have in the process. I don’t think we’re prepared as a committee to make any recommendations to council that are going to unfairly penalize some of this investment QC’s made,” he said.

Coun. Lynda Gunn also requested a study be undertaken to find out how the building will affect snow drifts. QC is expected to bring the information to committee next month.

If council approves the design, residents will have another 14 days to appeal a development permit. Piling cannot begin until that period is over.