Dominion Building

The Dominion Building is strategically located on Queen Street in the City of Charlottetown's downtown business core. Covering an entire city block, the property consists of a six-storey building on a 1.5 acre (0.6 ha) parcel of land. Built in the 1950s, it has been used to accommodate various government departments and agencies over the years.

Since acquiring the property in 2007, Canada Lands Company CLC Limited (CLC) has worked closely with the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce's Dominion Building Task Force to ensure a timely redevelopment of this strategic property.

Planning work has followed up on the Community Needs Assessment undertaken by the Task Force. The Assessment concluded that the building should be re-used, if possible, and identified potential redevelopment options for the building. These uses include cultural, commercial, institutional, hotel and residential. The Task Force has focused their efforts on a reuse that would see the ground floor and basement used as a Community Cultural Cluster. Recently a consultant was engaged to determine the viability of using the ground floor and basement for cultural uses. This work was concluded in early 2009.

CLC has also completed the necessary work to assess the feasibility of each of the other potential uses on the upper floors. Through a series of meetings with a variety of stakeholder groups, CLC's consultants developed a series of typical floor plans for each of the uses that could be housed within the existing structure. Given the size of the Dominion Building, it is likely that the redevelopment will include a mix of these uses. Residential units in the form of townhouses are also an option that could be used along Pownal and Sydney Streets to provide for an improved streetscape.

CLC is currently working with the Dominion Building Task Force on the follow-up to the recent consultant study on the viability of the Community Cultural Cluster. The process to dispose of the property will commence in the near future.