Place Bell
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Place Bell is one of the tallest buildings in Ottawa, Canada (the fifth tallest in the downtown area). The 27 storey building stands on Elgin Street in the city's downtown, and is distinguishable by the wide nature (the building is unusually large in dimensions considering its height, presumably to avoid having a 50+ storey building greatly overshadow the Peace Tower). It was built by Olympia and York in 1971 as the Ottawa headquarters of Bell Canada. The site originally contained a number of small commercial buildings a large convent. Bell, which remains the building's largest tenant, owned the building until they sold it to TrizecHahn in 1998 from some $170 million dollars. After the purchase TrizecHahn conducted significant renovations. In 2002 it was bought by HR Real Estate Investment Trust for $211 million dollars.
The main level contains a shopping concourse with a number of businesses. The rear of the structure contains a parking garage. In the 1980s the owners sued the city after salt placed on the roads by the city corroded the steel structure of the garage and it had to be closed for several years.
