By Warren Waters
With the City’s decision to intensify land use near LRT stations, Lowertown will continue to change. Our neighbourhood’s sometimes elderly buildings and a homelessness emergency are only part of the pressure to develop. Real estate is also an attractive but risky gamble for investors. Most investors find the time needed for planning and development to be their greatest uncertainty, which favours larger developers and bigger projects, resulting in more changes to the neighbourhood. In Ottawa last year, only twenty-one percent of Site Plan Control applications which were complex, or required public consultation, got a decision within Council-approved target timelines of 133 days.
Here are the sites we know will be changing very soon:
1 Rideau – Recently approved is the addition at the rear of the Château Laurier Hotel: two towers, one 10-storey and another 11-storey, with a 2-storey base joining them, with 159 hotel suites and 301 parking spaces
73 Guigues at Parent – Construction of three-storey, seven-unit townhouse is underway, for 11258770 Canada Inc.
216 Murray – Shepherds of Good Hope have proposed a 16-hour-a-day drop-in on the main floor, with a second floor kitchen/dining hall, and 6 more floors with up to 48 single apartments. No active application has been submitted yet, but it is anticipated shortly.
201-213 Rideau – Prince Development’s 24-storey Marriott hotel/condo building between Dalhousie and Cumberland (the former Beer Store) is under construction, including redevelopment of the Waller Mall.
180 George, 245 Rideau – Claridge Plaza under construction on the site of the old Metro, includes 3 buildings (a 26-storey condo tower, a rental building and a hotel). Occupancy is expected next winter.
126 York & 151 George – In October 2020, the developer consulted with residents, suggesting a 22- story apartment building with about 200 units on George, while preserving and converting the Major building on York into a hotel with about 200 rooms. No application has yet been submitted.
116 York – Bayview Hospitality Group’s 17-storey hotel adjacent to the proposed addition to the Andaz Hotel. Zoning By-law Amendment Application was refused by the City and the applicant is reported to be appealing.
110 York, 137 and 141 George – Claridge Developments’ 19-storey addition to the Andaz Hotel. The Site Plan and zoning application is on hold pending a response from the applicant.
260 Murray, 261, 269, 277 King Edward – Claude Lauzon Group’s 2016 proposal of a 6-storey mixed-use development is on hold pending a response from the applicant, but rumours about another 8-story hotel are circulating.
541-545 Rideau (at Cobourg) – Chenier Group’s 9-storey mixed-use apartment building is under construction, with 102 residential units and 53 parking stalls, retaining the original 150-year-old house facade in a new duplex on Cobourg St.
151, 153 Chapel – Trinity Development’s two, 25-storey residential towers to be completed in two phases, includes a total of 633 apartments and 9,200 square feet of retail space. One mixed-use highrise with 315 residential units is now under construction, to be followed by an all-residential building with 318 apartments.
641 Rideau (east of Wurtemberg)- Proposed 25-storey apartment building.