Ottawa may have amphitheater renderings in next 8 weeks

A peek at Ottawa’s new riverfront amphitheater is just around the corner.

The Ottawa City Council on Tuesday night authorized a preliminary design services agreement with Lamar Johnson Collaborative, Inc., an architectural firm from Chicago, which according to Mayor Robb Hasty could yield designs for the city’s amphitheater and the surrounding park in about eight weeks.

“I’ve been quoted many times saying that you can’t put the amphitheater in a vacuum, you have to design the park around it,” Mayor Robb Hasty said, “so we’ve spent the last year doing that. Everyone has seen it, what the plan is going to be. With that done and our feasibility studies showing us that the city is ripe for having an amphitheater and how big of an amphitheater to build, now we can have designed what the feasibility study says we can support,

“We had our first meeting on that today and we should have renderings and plans done by Feb. 26.”

The council also authorized a design development plan agreement with Ginkgo Planning and Design of Chicago, allowing that firm to begin the first phase of more detailed plans that can actually be implemented once the work begins. That work includes such items as roadway and sidewalk widths, placement of lighting poles, amenities, etc.

“It’s all starting to crystallize now,” Hasty said. “I’m being told this is on schedule. I wouldn’t like for it to be going much faster than it has been … Hopefully, there will be some earth moving this fall and then construction and new infrastructure started by next spring. It should take about a year for it to be built.

“We’re targeted to be able to open the amphitheater and have it host its first event we’re thinking by May of 2027.”