Dunrobin plaza to reopen this summer

DUNROBIN – After more than a year of crickets, the Dunrobin plaza is now a very busy place.

Any mention of the former strip mall, destroyed by the 2018 tornado, sold and partially rebuilt, and then spending its life in limbo for years, is big news at West Carleton Online.

Our story last month (March 18) announcing the property had been sold again, despite containing very little information including who the new owners were, is one of West Carleton Online’s most popular stories so far in 2025.

The last time we published a Top 10 list (March 22) for 2025, the story came in seventh despite only being published for five days at the time.

Last week West Carleton Online met with the realtors that brokered the sale of the plaza and are responsible for finishing the construction and filling the mall with new tenants.

Realtors Georges Tayar and Wadah Alghosen with Royal LePage Team, the Vertex Team, met West Carleton Online inside the mall Thursday, April 17, while construction workers, before heading out to lunch, were busy putting up drywall, working on flooring and taking care of other work needed to complete the project.

“We started with the plaza almost one year ago,” Tayar said. “One of my clients contacted me. He was interested in this plaza and this plaza was closed. We did our due diligence to find the owner (co-owner Dr. Asrar Sheikh) and that took some time. We found the owner and we discussed with him, and we asked if he wanted to sell the plaza and he agreed to it.”

Although, that isn’t the end of the story. Real Estate deals are seldomly that easy.

“So, we represented the owner and the first buyer,” Tayar said. “We didn’t succeed because of the mortgage issue. Then we started with another client. It was an exclusive listing, so it wasn’t on the market. We found another client, but it also didn’t succeed. We found a third one, and we bought the plaza for our client. Thee consultation and the city due diligence process was done by our Vertex Team (Development and Consultation division) with Orange developments. We helped him find an engineering company to make sure everything was okay with the City of Ottawa by the code and bylaw, and then we also started with the companies for the estimation about the work and what was still needed, to complete the plaza.”

The company that ended up purchasing the property is OKAL Leasing Company.

“It’s a big company,” Tayar said. “He wanted to do something here in Ottawa and he is very excited about this project and this plaza. Our client is working very hard to finish on time. The owner is from Toronto where he’s a major distributor for Toronto and Ottawa as well, so he’s familiar with the area. He knows what he’s doing, and he has big plans for this plaza and I’m sure the end result is going to be amazing.”

With the paperwork finalized, the physical work began.

“With the new owner, we started to renovate this plaza,” Tayar said. “At the same time, we worked with clients to start to exclusively rent this plaza. So far, we have two deals done. We have a dentist and pizza. And we are working with another potential tenant. We’ll see. If anyone is interested, they can contact the Vertex Team, George Tayar or Wadah Alghosen.”

The mall has 10,000 square feet (929 sq. metres) of space to rent. In the spring of 2023, the previous owner boarded up the windows to protect them from vandalism. Later that summer, the community painted murals on the boards, even though they hoped the boards were a short-term addition to the stalled plaza project.

Alghosen says the boards finally came down roughly two months ago.

“Basically, Tayar summarized the whole story,” Alghosen said. “It’s been a battle getting all the information together because there was insurance companies involved. There were different kinds of contractors involved with the previous owners. We had to clarify a lot of things from all these previous contractors. And finally, once we found the right general contractor to take on the project, using our consultation methods and using our bidding process, we took down the boards approximately two months ago. And then the contractors started their installations. They started their drywall. We’re still in the process, actually. Adjusting all the plumbing after the tornado. We still need to test that. We still need to test the septic, of course. It’s been a long time since it’s been used. But, yeah, it’s coming along very well and as George said, we already have two tenants, and we have a lot of other potentials.”

The pair hope to have the plaza completed by July and continue to look for tenants. But the realtors say it’s not just a matter of first come, first served, in terms of occupancy.

“What’s the best options for the community, because we really care about that,” Alghosen said. “We want to make sure this community can be served as best as possible. We have contacted the councillor’s office (Coun. Clarke Kelly), of course, and we’ve come across a number of ideas of what could be needed for the community, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to pick those particular tenants that can service this particular area. We would love to, of course, see some sort of a sports bar, or like a sit-down restaurant of some sort in that particular corner (pointing to the southern end of the building with a corner of windows). That would be amazing for the community. I think the community really needs that. A pharmacy. The closest one is in Constance Bay. Any other ideas, we’re open to what the community needs, and we will be glad to seek those tenants out, and hopefully we can get this on the go.”

With all the activity going on at the plaza, Alghosen says a few curious community members have dropped by to see what’s happening.

“Of course, of course,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of calls from that sign we have. People asking questions, what’s happening? Are we going to destroy this plaza or what exactly is going to be built? People were concerned at the beginning, because there had been no activity whatsoever on this. We tried to answer as much as we could at the time. But there were disclosure issues. But now, that information is open. The community should be very happy with the results over here.”

And the realtors say there are other commercial developments happening in the community.

“We even sold the land and closed yesterday (April 16), the land beside the plaza,” Tayar said. “So, just watch out and see. That’s going to be another interesting project over there. So, we’re working on that.  We also have another 500 acres coming in Dunrobin as well, that we’re working on with the councillor’s office and we’re trying to see what other potentials and ideas that land can be used for. We’re trying to put a landmark here in Dunrobin.”

And when the time is right, the two, along with all those involved in the project, hope to host an official opening.

“Hopefully we’ll do some sort of grand opening,” Alghosen said. “Invite the councillor and the whole neighbourhood, just so they can be involved in this and be happy with the results.”

You can reach Tayar at gtayar@royllepage.ca and Alghosen at wadahalghosen@royallepage.ca.