Mastercraft-Starwood acquired the Aquerello site on Champagne Avenue at Hickory some months ago. This site is immediately north of the Arnon proposed office towers at 853 Carling, and immediately south of the current and soon to be redeveloped humane society site. The new condos will border the OTrain on the east side of their site.
Their proposal is for high condo buildings positioned to view Dow's Lake. Recall that Hickory Street is likely to be continued across the Otrain corridor cut as a pedestrian street, which will also improve access to the Otrain station there for all the new developments proposed for this area. Recall too that Domicile has acquired the small printing plant located on the west side of Champagne at Hickory for a proposed 12 storey condo tower with six townhouses facing Hickory.
To see the artists sketches of the proposed condo towers from various viewpoints, go to this link http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7UMT1F and click on the pdf's for the 3 elevation pictures and the site plan.
There is also a story on the proposal in Ottawa Business Journal, at this link:
http://www.obj.ca/Real-Estate/Residential/2010-02-19/article-795846/Developers-file-plans-for-Little-Italy-condo-towers/1
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I appreciate that they're proposing underground parking, and relatively few parking spots at that!
ReplyDeleteI welcome this development. With the influx of residents, I'd sure like to see some basic amenities though...
Love the restaurants - need groceries :)
The grocery store thing in Ottawa puzzles me. There are significant pockets of high density that are completely lacking in grocery stores (see, for example, Golden Triangle or Mechanicsville). I do not know if this is a problem of there being no space (although with all the new condos going in, I would have expected to see a Vancouver style solution of a supermarket on the ground floor) or of the economics not being very good or simply a reflection of the fact that it is easy to get, by car, to a big suburban Loblaws so people aren't willing to pay the premium that a downtown grocery store needs.
ReplyDeleteIf it is the latter, then the city has some tools at their disposal (either property tax reductions in the core or parking stall taxes).
But when I see the lines at the Glebe Metro or the Hartman's or the Loblaws on Isabella, I cannot help but think that there is a market for a medium sized grocery store on Booth or Elgin.
Those are good points, Chris B. The Vancouver-style super market at grade, condos above approach makes a lot of sense. Dozens of possible locations come to mind, so I suspect it's more so a question of economics than space.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering what tools cities have at their disposal to encourage such things, given that market forces alone do not, apparently, make for good city planning (Ha! Surprise, surprise). I wonder if there are currently any property tax incentives, etc, in place...
I've been wondering the same myself and have always been puzzled by how few grocery stores there are in central Ottawa. I can't believe the market isn't there; in West Centretown/Little Italy for example I'm sure there are lots of people who don't have the transportation to drive over to the Glebe Metro or Isabella Loblaws for groceries and are dependent on buying food from convenience stores and eating out at fast food outlets! What an unhealthy way to live. With all the new developments going up everywhere I keep hoping to see a new grocery store open up somewhere in the neighbourhood, but to no avail, it seems.
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