SkyscraperPage Forum - St. Charles Market [135 Barrette St] | 8 f

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St. Charles Market [135 Barrette St] | 8 f | Completed

The St Charles Church on Beechwood is an interesting site. I know that developers had coveted the site, but now that the church has heritage designation, it is probably less interesting to them.

As a commercial business, it could be workable as an athletic club or possibly a dance club/concert hall/movie theatre/playhouse.

I would like to suggest another use that it might serve. It could be converted into an Ottawa branch library. As such, it could serve as a public space, library and meeting place. If it were taken over by the city, the grounds could even serve as a farmers market in the summer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JM1 (Post 6558355)

The basement could also serve as small office/business space. Ottawa has a serious lack of incubator space.

What's the condition of the attached manse, I wonder?

Prediction.
The Church and property will be sold to a new owner.

The property will be left unattended for decades. Eventually leading to the structure being declared unsafe. It will be torn down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOWINYOW (Post 6558651)

Prediction.
The Church and property will be sold to a new owner.

The property will be left unattended for decades. Eventually leading to the structure being declared unsafe. It will be torn down.

Allo, Mister Lauzon?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uhuniau (Post 6558728)

Allo, Mister Lauzon?

That is certainly his M.O.

For sale signs went up this weekend:

http://www.dtzbarnicke.com/Client/JJ...2!OpenDocument

You know, building an annex to the church on the south side, where the parking lot now is, would turn the front lawn into a lovely little compact square, in a part of town where there is genuinely a shortage of such spaces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uhuniau (Post 6695944)

5-6 storey glass tower with a full height atrium between the church and the annex, exposing the church walls, would be awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOWINYOW (Post 6559567)

That is certainly his M.O.

http://claudelauzongroup.ca/

FROM THE WEBSITE:

Let our Family take Care of You

Established by Claude Lauzon, the Claude Lauzon Group is a family business that has been operating in the heart of Ottawa for over half a century. Our company, which is managed and administered exclusively by the family, specializes in the purchase, renovation and rental of housing and commercial space. Our mission is to see to your needs and concerns in a professional and efficient manner. When you deal with us you are dealing directly with the Claude Lauzon family.

Whether you are seeking a bachelor, one or two bedroom apartment, we have units to suit all budgets in the most sought after neighbourhoods in the National Capital Region - the Byward market and NewEdinburgh/Beechwood area.

Contact us to find out more about our units, renovated in today's style with hardwood and ceramic floors, modern kitchen and baths and many charming architectural details.

The units available for rent on the web site don't look too bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster (Post 6697500)

I'd like to make an amendment to the following:

"specializes in the purchase, renovation and rental of housing and commercial space"

"specializes in abandoning historic buildings until they have to be condemned due to safety concerns... then blame the City"

Good job Lauzon! :tup:

Updated story:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-for-4-million

Andrew Reeves of LineBox Studio, who, not coincidentally, designed the interior of the new Shopify office at 150 Elgin St., will be redesigning the Saint-Charles church.

See also:
https://twitter.com/lineboxstudio
http://instagram.com/p/w1SooqAMYY/

via OBJ:

Quote:

ModBox hopes to complete Saint-Charles development by 2018
Published on January 05, 2015

The developers who purchased the former Saint-Charles Church from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa late last month are promising “something special,” according to the Instagram account of one of the partners in the venture.

ModBox, a firm that has been together for about two and a half years, bought the building for $4 million, backed by a group of investors that include Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke.

ModBox is a partnership between architecture firm LineBox Studio and construction company The Lake Partnership. The two companies have a history of working together, with their most high-profile work being Shopify’s new headquarters in Performance Court at 150 Elgin St.

That wasn’t a ModBox project, however.

ModBox’s director of marketing and communications, Melissa Reeves, said when the project is client-based – such as Shopify, for example – it is never a Modbox project.

“It becomes a ModBox project when the two of them, out of their own volition, go ahead and put together a project,” she said.

That is what happened in this case, when LineBox senior architect Andrew Reeves, who lives in the area, saw the property, did some research and proposed it to the team.

That was in September. By November, Ms. Reeves said everything was essentially finished.

In addition to Mr. Lütke, ModBox got other significant investors in its first round of financing for the project, including an electrical company it has worked with in the past, said Ms. Reeves.

She said the partners have met with city officials and initial plans have been approved.

“The big idea is really to honour the church’s past and see what we can do to make it go forward,” Ms. Reeves said.

That includes plans for a year-round market, including some boutique vendors, some mixed-use space, condos and townhomes, a high-end restaurant and possibly some offices. There will also be a public square and outside space to recognize the church’s past as an important part of the Vanier community.

Ms. Reeves said Mr. Reeves, Mr. Lütke and Shopify’s chief platform officer, Harley Finkelstein, all live in the area and “want to see something really amazing going into the space.”

Ms. Reeves said Mr. Finkelstein is working to make sure many different players in the community are engaged in the project.

“Harley has been heading up the farmers’ market just across the street from the church for several years, so a lot of those players will be able to help out with what’s going on inside the church as well,” said Ms. Reeves.

In addition to the church project, ModBox has recently finished the Springfield Towns on Springfield Road and will have some lofts coming soon to Stonehurst Avenue in Mechanicsville.

While ModBox, LineBox and the Lake Partnership are three independent companies, they have recently moved to shared office space at 126 York St.

Ms. Reeves says ModBox will be hiring two or three staff who will be dedicated solely to the Saint-Charles project, which the company says should be entirely complete by 2018.

* Here's more information on LineBox Studio.

Modbox has a webpage up now for the St. Charles Church project. They were also looking for suggestions for a name for the development, but I think that time has passed...

http://modbox.ca/stcharles/

Quote:

Our goal is to provide a mixed-use project that will act as a central hub for the community. Composed of both residential and commercial elements, the former St. Charles Church and its surrounding property will include residences, workplaces, restaurants and a seasonal marketplace to its centrally-located site. We are still in the early planning stages of this project and the necessary approvals are still needed.

This new site will be a destination not only for local area residents, but also for people from other communities in Ottawa and visitors to the city from around the world.

Quote:

Originally Posted by citydwlr (Post 6969048)

Modbox has a webpage up now for the St. Charles Church project. They were also looking for suggestions for a name for the development, but I think that time has passed...

http://modbox.ca/stcharles/

Place St Charles or Carré St Charles, surely.

Looks like it will be St. Charles Market https://instagram.com/p/27CKe7NHlz/

It kind of looks like they just keep the church and mash a bunch of stuff around it... I was hoping for something more cohesive.

But perhaps I should reserved judgment until I see some better renderings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poptronic (Post 7035539)

Looks like it will be St. Charles Market https://instagram.com/p/27CKe7NHlz/

^ That's pretty much exactly what it looks like :S

I agree, I'll have to wait and see some final renderings of their proposal. In its current state, I find it a bit too cluttered.

* The presentation files are up, by the way:
http://modbox.ca/2015/05/community-i...ion-follow-up/

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocketphish (Post 7045173)

For your viewing pleasure:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7772/...b6cd12ef_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8863/...c734d80e_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7773/...bd56d2f3_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8774/...e5998cd6_b.jpg
Building 1: Coffee House. Building 2: Townhomes with condo units above. Building 3: Commercial with access to church residential above. Building 4: Existing church to remain, with 2 new restaurants and 8-14 retail/market booths.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8891/...3f392d93_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8808/...82573b61_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7765/...520d8fb1_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8823/...1dcd12fb_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7778/...a67c7f31_b.jpg

So can someone help me understand this.... It looks like they're going to build right up to the lot line on the South side. Why are commercial enterprises allowed to build right up to the lot line (permeable landscaping for storm water & snowmelt runoff be damned), while most residential zones have setback requirements?

Oh dear. A bit of a mess. Really think they could lose Building 1 and preserve more of the little square out front.