Future of Orange Art Gallery uncertain after learning its lease won't be renewed

The gallery has asked the City of Ottawa to designate its building as a heritage property.

Published Jul 08, 2023 • Last updated 48 minutes ago • 3 minute read

Jim and Ingrid Hollander, co-owners of Orange Art Gallery, have been told their lease on the gallery won’t be renewed when it ends at the end of this year. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

The future of a popular Ottawa art gallery and event space is in jeopardy after it was told that its lease won’t be renewed when it expires at the end of this year.

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Orange Art Gallery, which for the past decade has occupied the 123-year-old CN Railroad bank building at the City Centre, made the announcement on Friday through its Instagram account: “It is with great sadness that we share the news that the future of Orange Art Gallery is in dire straits!”

Ingrid Hollander, who owns the gallery along with her husband, Matthew Jeffrey, and brother, Jim Hollander, says there has been no indication of what will happen to the historic building. She says District Realty, which represents the owner, told her it’s not being leased to anyone else, leading her to speculate that it may sit empty until possibly being demolished so the property can be redeveloped.

“The land is becoming more and more valuable, with LeBreton Flats possibly being developed,” she said. “So my gut feeling is they ultimately just want to take this building down. And to them it’s almost more valuable just as a parking space for now.”

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The gallery, she adds, has asked the city to designate the building a heritage property.

District Realty’s director of commercial properties, Michael Morin, did not respond to a request from this newspaper for an interview.

Jim and Ingrid Hollander, co-owners of Orange Art Gallery, in a display room. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

Hollander adds that she and her partners did extensive renovations to the building when they moved in in 2014 after spending four years in the Parkdale Market area. Aside from representing about 25 artists, the gallery also hosts art classes and between 70 and 100 events a year, including weddings, anniversaries, corporate events, fundraisers and other functions.

ThreeBestRated website, which rates the top Ottawa businesses in numerous categories, selected Orange in its art gallery rankings along with the National Gallery of Canada and the Ottawa Art Gallery.

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The future of her gallery aside, Hollander hopes the building won’t ever be torn down. “It breaks my heart just to think that they’re gonna wipe this building down.

“I don’t know if they have any kind of appreciation of what they have in this building. If they’re considering tearing it down, then they obviously don’t care about that aspect. But maybe they do. Maybe if they knew that the community was so against it (being demolished).”

Jim and Ingrid Hollander, co-owners of Orange Art Gallery, have asked the city to designate the building as a heritage property Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

Coun. Ariel Troster, in whose Somerset Ward the gallery is situated, says cultural spaces such as galleries and artists’ studios needn’t be victims of intensification.

“On one hand, I support intensification and building more housing in a high-density fashion within the core. It’s good for the environment, it’s good for building housing.

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“But what we’re seeing, not just with this development, but with others, too, is that it has the potential to push out important cultural spaces in our community, whether it’s galleries or live workspaces.

“We’ve seen lots of really great examples where the façades of buildings are incorporated into new builds,” Troster said.

“I have no idea what the owner’s intention is with this property, but there’s no reason why a gallery couldn’t remain.”

Hollander, meanwhile, has her fingers crossed that the building’s owner will have a change of heart.

“A one-year extension, even, would just be kind of beautiful,” she says, “just to get things sorted out a little bit. I always kind of thought that something would change, or they would change their mind as time got closer, but now doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.”