By Allen Brown
Last November 15th, the City of Ottawa’s Planning and Housing Committee approved without discussion Claridge Homes’ 16+ storey addition to the Andaz Hotel. This is the latest phase of Claridge Home’s controversial hotel-condo complex that will build a “wall” between York and George Streets.
Union du Canada demolition
This sad saga begins with the 2014 demolition of the former Union du Canada HQ at 325 Dalhousie Street, and its replacement by the 200-room Andaz hotel. Strenuous efforts by the Lowertown Community Association’s Heritage Committee to protect this important example of local modern architecture and Francophone culture were met by refusals of city and provincial officials to even consider a heritage designation.
Problematic design
Even before the Union du Canada building was demolished, serious design concerns about the Andaz project were raised by the City’s independent Urban Design Review Panel (UDRP). Among other issues, the Panel described it as “a major over-development of the site,” which makes little “effort to fit into the context of the ByWard Market…” It also criticized the overall design for “strongly favour[ing] the proponent’s interests at the expense of what is good for the City of Ottawa and the ByWard Market.“ Despite these reservations, and a supporting intervention by the LCA Heritage Committee, construction of the Andaz hotel was completed without any significant design modifications, and it opened in 2016.
By itself, the Andaz hotel exhibits a lack of sensitivity to the heritage character of the ByWard Market and Lowertown West, where low-rise buildings are the norm and the City’s own guidelines for the ByWard Heritage Conservation District (HCD) advocate a height limit of four stories for new buildings. However, when all phases of this Claridge Homes project are complete, their combined impact will be much, much worse.
141 George Street Condo
An adjacent 22-storey condo building will be almost four times the size of the Andaz and five stories higher with 282 residential units.
When the George Street Condo is built, the complex will form an immense wall overshadowing an entire city block between York and George Streets. Indeed, when initially approving the project, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) explicitly urged that its immense “wall effect” along Dalhousie be addressed during the site plan control approval process. Somehow, this OMB recommendation was completely ignored.
Also ignored were Urban Design Review Panel (UDRP) recommendations to reduce the massing of the tower and to step down its north end to clearly separate it from the mass of the hotel, and not form a continuous high wall in the heart of Market. Despite this, however, the City thought it appropriate to award Claridge Homes with a Brownfields Rehabilitation Grant of up to $1,850,518 over 10 years and an exemption from paying future municipal development charges up to a maximum of $819,060 for the project.
Today, this project would likely not be approved. If the 2018 Ottawa City Guidelines for tall buildings (over 10-storeys) were applied, the design would require drastic revision to “ensure sensitive development which respects the character and scale of nearby heritage buildings.” Also, “an effective transition in height and massing,” could require the condo to halve its currently-approved 22-storey height to 10- or 11-storeys as per Figure 1-3 of the guidelines. The current project allows for absolutely no height transition between the one- to three-storey buildings on Dalhousie, and a neighbouring 22-storey condo being built to its east as part of the 126 York development.
Andaz 2.0
One new change was recently approved to Claridge’s original plans for the complex – a 106 room addition to the east side of the Andaz hotel. While the City approved demolition of an existing four-storey building on York to build the addition, a greater concern for the community is that the separation distance between the addition and the George Street condo will only be 15 metres, rather than the 23 metres recommended by City guidelines. This smaller gap will greatly diminish the quality of life for Lowertown residents by increasing both shadow and wind impacts, and obliterating the sky-view from the ByWard Market. Incidentally, a revised site plan also calls for diverting 26 parking spaces in the condo to serve the Andaz hotel, which was built with insufficient parking.
Community engagement lacking
It is a concern that the developer has made no effort to engage the community to mitigate the many negative impacts of this project. At the same Planning and Housing Committee meeting that approved rezoning for Andaz 2.0, the Dow’s Lake Resident’s Association highly praised its cooperative relationship with another developer – the Katasa Groupe. That developer worked closely to address community concerns with its new 22-storey condo at Bronson and Carling Avenues, agreeing to reduce the building’s height, increase setbacks and reduce underground parking to allow trees to grow.
Encroaching condo canyon
Unfortunately, the Claridge development is just one of many now planned or under construction in the Lowertown and ByWard Market area. What is clear, is that the city block bounded by George, Cumberland, York and Dalhousie is ground-zero for the intrusion of condo towers into this heritage neighbourhood. In fact, the prospect of such a dense concentration of tall buildings led the UDRP to advise: “If the [Claridge Homes] development is to move forward, the Panel recommends a subcommittee be established to review the entire block and assess the compatibility of development going forward.” To our knowledge, no such subcommittee has yet been formed.
Ottawa’s heritage neighbourhoods are at risk by projects like Claridge Homes’. Preserving the historical significance, ambiance, and integrity of the oldest part of Canada’s capital city demands that we not surround it with walls of high-rise condo towers.
Proposed development in context. “Ground-zero” of condo towers.
(Photo: Bray Heritage)