Aga Khan Foundation wants to rent offices in old war museum,

Plans to reclaim all space in old war museum in 10 years

The Aga Khan Foundation wants permission to rent offices to tenants in the old war museum building on Sussex Drive while it expands its planned centre for studying pluralism.

The museum, vacant for years since its exhibits moved to its new building on LeBreton Flats, has been owned by the foundation since 2006. The plan has always been that it would be renovated to become the centre’s permanent home, an institution that would research and debate the ways a society can accommodate people with different values and beliefs — though it hasn’t happened yet.

The city’s lobbying registry records a meeting earlier this week between Coun. Mathieu Fleury and Jeff Polowin, a lobbyist working for the foundation, to talk about rezoning the property at 330 Sussex, up the street from the foundation’s Canadian headquarters. The National Capital Commission calls Sussex Drive part of its “Confederation Boulevard,” a set of streets with ceremonial importance because of all the national institutions they connect.

“They are just starting that pluralism centre and the building currently, the old war museum is 50,000 square feet of space,” Fleury said. “What they were saying is they don’t think they can fill the spot right away. Their goal is to — and they like the location on Confederation Boulevard — but they want to talk to the community about whether there’s the opportunity to include other uses, with the idea that within five to seven or 10 years they’d take the entire space on.”

The former museum is zoned for cultural uses, which can include anything from a museum to a school to a theatre, but it doesn’t allow commercial office space.

“I’ve said to them, ‘It’s hard for me to say I’m OK with it or not. I don’t know what kind of organization you’d like to bring in,’ ” Fleury said.

If a non-profit organization or the headquarters of a national association wants to move in, that’s probably all right.

“If you’re bringing corporate offices onto Sussex, then that’s a different dynamic. … They can’t ask me or the city or the community to just say we’d like to rezone that portion for a period of time during which we’d bring in another association or whatever, without us knowing what would go in there.”

The Aga Khan, the hereditary leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims, has taken an unusual interest in Canada.

A Swiss-born Briton with a Harvard education, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV is a multimillionaire who’s founded development charities to promote education and peace, and to fight poverty. His Canadian building, formally known as the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamate, opened in 2008 and has won numerous awards for its architecture.