Draft:99 Rideau



99 Rideau is a heritage building and retail restaurant location in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada known primarily for being the location of the Rideau McDonald's from 1985 to 2023. The building is currently owned by Colliers and was built in 1908.

In 2023, the Toronto Star referred to the Rideau McDonald's as the "World's Worst McDonald's" due to it's reputation as a hotspot for crime. In May 2023, the franchise owners and tenants of 99 Rideau chose not to renew their lease and the restaurant closed.

In January 2024, a spokeperson for Colliers announced that 99 Rideau will have a new tenant that will focus on "fine Chinese/Asian cuisine".

Designation as a Heritage Building
97-99 Rideau, historically known as "The Atwood", was constructed in 1908 as an apartment building. In 1983, in response to the demolition of nearby historic buildings on the south side of Rideau Street due to the construction of the Rideau Centre, the Local Architecture Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) advised the City of Ottawa to provide heritage designations to historic buildings on the north side of Rideau Street. The City of Ottawa had agreed with LACAC and provided heritage designations under the Ontario Heritage Act for 97-105 Rideau "to preserve the upper two storeys of Rideau Street façade."

Commercialization
Later in 1983, the Triax Development Corporation purchased the 97-105 Rideau block with the intention of converting it into a 17 storey-hotel-retail-centre, incorporating the two storey façades. The development originally was approved by the City of Ottawa in 1983 and construction had started on Phase I, to convert the property into a three storey shopping mall referred to as the 99 Rideau Shopping Mall.

By 1985 construction of Phase I was completed and retail storefronts had been added to the property.

In 1986, despite a petition from the Lowertown West Community Association which opposed Phase II of construction, the City of Ottawa approved construction of a high-rise hotel at 97-105 Rideau. Later that year it was discovered that there was a 35 ft height restriction that the City of Ottawa was unaware of leading to the City of Ottawa overturning it's decision on permitting Phase II of development.

Rideau McDonald's
In 1985, after the creation of a new retail space at 99 Rideau, the space was leased to McDonald's Canada.

By the 2010's the Rideau McDonald's gained a reputation for being a crime hotspot. In 2019, the Ottawa Police Service had reported receiving as much as 900 911 calls a year regarding the Rideau McDonald's.

In 2019, Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau wrote a letter to McDonald's Canada CEO, John Betts stating "Officers of the Ottawa Police Service attend this location on a daily basis to address issues including vagrancy, liquor licence violations, illicit drug use, and incidents of violence," and that he believed the McDonald's location was "breaching your established standards of operation." In response to Bordeleau's letter, the restaurant's hours was reduced from 24 hours to 6 am to 10 pm.

In January 2023, Colliers announced that the Rideau McDonald's franchise owners had chosen not to renew their lease and that the restaurant would be closing later that year. The restaurant would later be dubbed by the Toronto Star as the "World's Worst McDonald's".

In response to the closure, a group of University of Ottawa students, lead by Keith de Silvia-Legault, organized the Rideau McDonald's Farewell March which acted as a fundraiser for Operation Come Home and Voice Found as well as a food drive for the Shepherds of Good Hope. The event took place on March 19th, 2023 and had over 200 attendee's as well as raising over $1,900.

By May 2023, the restaurant had officially closed it's doors to the public.