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Update: Watson orders benches in new Ogilvy Square plaza

Fears of homeless people loitering or panhandling are among the reasons why the city isn’t installing benches or permanent seating in a new Rideau Street pedestrian plaza currently under construction.

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Ogilvy Square will replace a short stretch of Nicholas Street between Rideau and Besserer streets that was closed to vehicle traffic permanently in April.

Cadillac Fairview, which owns the Rideau Centre, is building the square to the city’s specifications as part of a site plan agreement approved after the company announced the mall’s $360-million expansion in 2013.

Drawings of the new square show a line of trees on one side and a large restaurant patio on the other. There will also be bike racks and space that can be used for various special events or for the installation of public art.

But there’s no place to sit.

City of Ottawa

The city concluded that benches or permanent seating would be hard to work around or move every time it wants to use the space for a special event, even though it remains unclear who would ultimately be responsible for programming activities in the new square, which provides a key link between the ByWard Market, the future Rideau LRT station and the redeveloped Arts Court complex that’s set to open next year.