Waterloo Region Connected

Quote:CAMBRIDGE — The plan to ensconce a restaurant, library and new age creative spaces in Galt's 130-year-old post office got a green light Tuesday from heritage architects charged with planning the preservation of the building.

"Your glass is more than half full with what you're starting with," architect Andrew Pruss, of Toronto firm ERA Architects, told about 40 people at Cambridge City Hall on Tuesday.

The old post office on Water Street, which once served as a bar and nightclub until the mid-2000s, will house a restaurant, a black box theatre for children, sound and film editing space, a traditional library branch, a children's centre, and a "maker" space with 3D printers, a laser cutter and other tools, said Cambridge Libraries and Galleries chief executive officer Greg Hayton.

"We envision a future flagship for what the library is becoming, which is a place for ideas," Hayton said.

Pruss said the building, designed by Thomas Fuller, who also created Canada's first parliament building which burnt down in 1916, is holding up as well as any 130-year-old building would.

Its roof, limestone and granite stone masonry and bell clock mechanism must be restored or replaced entirely. Its main entrance will have to be made wheelchair accessible.

The building has no floors, but Pruss and his colleague, Edwin Rowse, said the interior of the building isn't heritage protected and can be altered extensively to suit the city's needs.

Pruss and Rowse said a pair of existing additions, one on the rear of the property merging into the barrier alongside the Grand River, and another on the property's side that houses a stairwell, should be knocked down to make room for a more suitable addition that complements the appearance of the main building.

"As an old building, it's got its problems in order to be adapted to suit a modern library," Rowse said. "Constraints in an old building are often a very creative thing. It stimulates people to find different solutions."

Although many design characteristics have yet to be determined, ERA said the city plans to build new additions at the side and rear of the property that will boost usable space by half, from roughly 12,000 square feet over four floors to 18,000 square feet.

The cost to renovate and expand the heritage building is about $10 million, said the city's director of sustainable design and development, Bob Paul, after the meeting concluded. The city purchased the building in 2012 for $1 million.

Paul confirmed negotiations with potential restaurant operators are ongoing, but the names of private firms seeking to run the restaurant in the building's main floor cannot be disclosed.

The city aims to have a full design by December and the renovation work completed by the end of 2016.

City councillors will vote on whether to approve the heritage master plan for the project at a meeting scheduled for June 23.