By Peter Ferguson
There are two development proposals on Rideau Street that have the potential to improve the appearance of Uptown Rideau (Rideau east of King Edward Avenue), add some new vitality to Lowertown East and enhance property values. The first of these is at Rideau and Chapel Street. The second is at Rideau and Cobourg.
The project at Rideau and Chapel is being led by Trinity Developments. It was initially approved by the Ontario Municipal Board and the City at the end of March 2016. The project will consist of a retail complex and two twenty- five-storey residential towers. There will be underground parking for both the retail complex and the residential towers via Beausoleil Drive.
Since the initial approval, Trinity, a retail-development specialist with retail complexes across Canada, has been trying to recruit new partners to build the residential towers because the original partners withdrew as the condo market softened in 2015 and 2016. In the meantime, Trinity has asked the City to extend the approval for its plans for the site into 2019 to allow it to complete the recruitment process.
The second project involves the construction of an apartment building at the northeast corner of Rideau and Cobourg. The site is presently occupied by a house, the original part of which dates from the early 1870s. The developer, the Chenier Group, is committed to staying strictly within the planning parameters as set out by the City in the Uptown Rideau Community Design Plan as well as satisfying the City’s commitment to intensification. This means a maximum height of nine storeys and appropriate setbacks from Rideau and Cobourg streets.
The Chenier Group also intends to preserve the original portion of the house as an aspect of the history of the neighbourhood. While there is no way to preserve the house in its present position on the lot and have room to build a new apartment building, the company intends to dismantle the original part of the house and rebuild it on the Cobourg side of the property. The drawings by Barry Padolsky, an Ottawa heritage architect, show a red-brick, semi-detached dwelling, three floors in height, which will contain two apartments. Historic photos of the neighbourhood have been used to guide the design.
A new nine-storey apartment building will fill the main part of the property fronting on Rideau and Cobourg streets. The three-storey podium will be in red brick with design elements across the Rideau and Cobourg sides. The remaining six storeys will be finished in pre-cast concrete and set back on the Rideau and Cobourg sides, and be invisible to pedestrians walking on the sidewalk alongside the building on Rideau and Cobourg. Current plans also call for a ground-floor coffee shop at the corner of Rideau and Cobourg.
The plans for the project have been submitted to the City and should be available for public comment in the near future. The approval process is likely to be completed by mid-autumn 2018. This project has involved an extensive amount of public consultation led by the Chenier Group and Barry Padolsky, and should be an appealing improvement to Lowertown East.