In case you missed the pun, the Elegant Romatic terms come from Sunday's Citizen story by Maria Cook on the rejuvenation of Preston. Here's the photo link:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/photos/Gallery+Preston+Street/2335008/story.html; and here's the story link: http://www.google.ca/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fcommunities.canada.com%2Fottawacitizen%2Fblogs%2Fdesigningottawa%2Frss.aspx; which is to Maria Cook's on-line edition.
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Thanks for this. Preston St. looks absolutely great since the work has been done.
ReplyDeleteA question - any idea what is happening at the lot at the north east corner of Preston and Carling. It always seems like a shame that such a prime location has been vacant for so long (I assume it is contaminated). It would be great to see something there to serve as a gateway and a link between Dow's Lake and the neighbourhood.
That lot, a former Esso Station, is being decontaminted. Every condo developer in the city has been interested in it. You are right, it is prime for development since it faces a gorgeous park, a lake, and backs onto a restaurant and newly trendy street.
ReplyDeleteMy slight preference today would be for Charlesfort to get it, as they develop buildings with style, be it the Macintosh style or the Art Deco towers they just built downtown. I wonder what they could do in an Italian style? I think the zoning is 4 or 6 stories, but fully expect any building there to be at least 12 floors, depending on how much lot the developer can buy.
It certainly is an opportunity for a gateway building.
Thanks for the info. It seems like Esso owns a good number of the vacant lots in central Ottawa.
ReplyDelete12 stories is probably fine for that site, if properly designed, with some street-level presence on both Carling and Preston. I think Charlesfort (or maybe Domicile) would be a good choice to achieve something with distinctive style. It would be disappointing to see a generic condo go up in such a prime location.
Hm..Does development on the North East corner of Preston and Carling preclude plans for having public space there as well? I thought I remembered that they were planning on having some fancy plaza/paving, with landscaping and such there? I (naively?) figured that was why they have been digging it up...
ReplyDeleteI think the BIA proposed a fountain for there, with lotsa pedestrian paving. Main problem is they dont own the lot .... Then the last landscaping plan for the city showed some landscaping on the corner, but the fine print said conceptional only as it was private land and cooperation would have to be worked out. The lot is small. We can expect some pressure on the developer (assuming it doesnt stay undeveloped) to put the front door and landscaping on the Preston side of whatever goes up there.
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