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Approved

Council approves Sparks and Bay streets development
Planning chair calls development good example of smart growth

By Jen McIntosh
Ottawa East News, Feb 17, 2016

Planning committee chair Jan Harder called the Morguard development at Sparks and Bay streets a great example of smart growth, following council approval of the zoning on Feb. 10.

The plan for 350 Sparks St. and 137 Bay St. includes one 23-storey condo tower and a 27-storey hotel to replace the existing three-storey apartment building and hotel.

The apartment building will have retail at the base and the new hotel will have more than 300 rooms. The apartment building will have 250 units.

The buildings will share a 348-space underground parking garage off Sparks. The existing garage on Queen Street will be demolished and replaced with a pedestrian entry to the existing office tower lobby.

The proposal also includes a 122-square-metre open public space on the northwest corner of Sparks and Bay streets

It’s the site of the former National Hotel and Suites, formerly part of the Delta Hotel chain. The existing 12-storey office tower on the east side of the site will remain but will be upgraded.

“It’s just steps from the new Lyon Street rail station,” Harder said. “This is very important to the west part of downtown.”

She said the developer had been to the city’s urban design review panel four times since the fall of 2014 and ended up with a plan that provides renewal to a whole city block in our downtown core.

“The visitors, residents and people who work in the office buildings will have immediate access to our transit system,” Harder said.

The planning rationale submitted by Fotenn says the “elegantly proportioned window openings of the West Memorial Building and Library Archives Canada inspired the exterior fac¸ade articulation of the proposed towers.”

Jennifer McIntosh is the political reporter for Metroland Media¹s Ottawa papers. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...s-development/