Restaurants hope plan for 'SoPa' district brings people back downtown

Downtown restaurants are hoping to attract tourists and Ottawans alike by creating a new district called SoPa.

SoPa stands for South of Parliament and is designed to be a bit of a play on popular neighbourhoods in other cities, like SoHo — south of Houston Street  — in New York City.

People CBC News spoke with thought the idea of SoPa was intriguing and felt that people were ready to venture out in person after years of staying away during the pandemic.

Monika Seiler doesn't live downtown but was out in the snow with Daniel Quintal. They said they try to come downtown at least once a week. Seiler used to live in Toronto and said she knows Ottawa has a bad reputation when it comes to nightlife, but she thinks that's unfair.

"They used to say, 'Where's the best place to eat in Ottawa?' And the answer was Montreal," she said. "I think that's changed a lot, especially in the last five to 10 years."

"It would be great to have places open late to have that cocktail, to have that drink, talk about what you've seen, you know, enjoy sort of the vibe," she said.

SoPa initiative still in early stages

Scott May, owner of Bar Robo and one of the leaders of the SoPa initiative, said his business name was created in direct opposition to the idea that Ottawa is robotic and "the city that fun forgot" — a quip he called outdated.

He said people in the city do want to go out and enjoy a nightlife.

"We developed Bar Robo downtown with the notion that if we gave folks something to do at night they would stay and enjoy it. And pre-COVID it certainly was proven that was the case," May said.

Now, he said, people just need to be reminded of that.

But attempts to entice people to the area outside standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. working hours, particularly Sparks Street, long pre-dates the pandemic, with brainstorming in advance of Canada 150 celebrations in 2017 and a multi-million dollar refresh approved by the city in 2019.

The group behind SoPa has created a map they hope will be distributed by hotels in the area highlighting the new district, which ranges from Parliament Hill in the north, McLeod Street in the south, Bronson Street in the west and Elgin Street in the east.

"I kind of think the name ... is kind of playful," May said.

"The goal of the map and the region was just to shine a light on what the downtown core is and what it contains and remind folks that it's an exciting, world-class destination."

The initiative is still being planned, with a proposed launch date in early January.

Adam Vettorel, executive chef and co-owner of North & Navy, said he joined the initiative to be part of a collective of restaurants and join the conversation around what will drive people back downtown.

"Instead of complaining about all the changes that have happened since the pandemic, let's see it as an opportunity to make some changes to the city that we would all benefit from," he said.

Vettorel said he thinks the demographics of the city are skewing younger with more tech workers coming in and younger civil servants being promoted earlier in their careers.

Ottawans hopeful about revitalization

"I noticed that when I have been out that people are quite energized and kind of going it's nice to be around people again and we've missed it," said Lucy Zeman, who was out with her friend who lives in Carp.

Both thought the idea of the map would help alert people to the existence of smaller businesses in the area.

Jennifer Piercey used to work with Tourism Ottawa when she was a university student and said she'd only recently ventured downtown after being COVID cautious. She said she sees a lot of potential in the area.

"We're missing all of our government workers right now, so you need to kind of switch it up a little bit and make it more of a destination," she said.

"I think if you build it, they will come."