LeBreton Flats | 14 fl (Ph.1)|Completed | 13 fl (Ph.2)|Completed

[McC]

their version of "to the man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" would be something involving recognizing no problems that cannot be solved a by a spade, a wheelbarrow full of mulch and a few hardy perennials set in bedding of annuals.

[McC]

before and after shots of a complete re-do of one of the units by Bramel (h/t to David Reevely):
http://brameldevelopments.com/2012/09/200-lett-ave-condo-renovation/

I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a little flabbergasted that Claridge was still using the same dated honey oak kitchen cabinets as in our mid-90s townhouse. They were sold as an "upgrade" back then, but I always assumed Claridge was just using our townhouses to clear out some surplus stock* leftover from earlier in *THAT* decade... well, it was am awful big surplus if they're still clearing them out 15 years later!

;-)

*the "upgraded" bathroom vanities were even worse...! replacing them was worth every penny.

[Postmaster]

I know I'm in the extreme minority, but I'll take wood cabinets over modernist sterile white and stainless steel any day. Seems more of a way to make your visitors impressed if anything. Then again, Its possible that this is what having a nice condo is all about these days.

[McC]

Don't get me wrong, I love wood cabinetry, but it's about context, what wood and what finish.

In an Edwardian or Craftsman home it's essential, and people who rip out solid woodwork that only needs a refinish are committing a crime. But in a "lofty" modern apartment with black and stainless appliances, those honey oak doors (probably attached to really cheap cabinets with a fake oak veneer) look pretty poor and a mismatched choice. There are woods and finishes that would look good in that apartment (IMO) those chosen for the cabinets and the island are simply not them!

Update: to be slightly fair to the Claridge apartment, Bramel's pictures are a little disingenuous, too -- low-res and ambient-lit "before" shots contrasting high-def and sharply-lit "after" shots...

[S-Man]

Those 'before' pics look like shit! Colour, grain,all off. And by that I mean the wood, not the photography.

[K-133]

They've been moving dirt around and bulldozing it. It almost looks like they're building a parking lot. Is this prep for the new construction? Anybody know what is going on?

[Nepean]

Originally Posted by K-133

They've been moving dirt around and bulldozing it. It almost looks like they're building a parking lot. Is this prep for the new construction? Anybody know what is going on?

I was wondering the same thing. Over the last week I have noticed an excavator, bulldozer and truck on the site while passing by on my way to work. I thought the construction was going to start in December, so I am a bit surprised to see the prep work up and running already. (If this is prep work).

[K-133]

Originally Posted by Nepean

I thought the construction was going to start in December...

Orly?

[McC]

Some minor news on the middle parcel (between Booth and Preston):

NCC awards $4.9M soil cleanup contract for LeBreton Flats

By Neco Cockburn, Ottawa Citizen November 13, 2012

NCC awards $4.9M soil cleanup contract for LeBreton Flats

NCC’s board of directors has approved a $4.9-million contract for the cleanup of 6.5 hectares bordered by Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to the north, an open aqueduct to the south, Booth Street to the east and a stretch north of Preston Street to the west.
Photograph by: Handout photo , National Capital Commission

OTTAWA — Contaminated soil that will be removed from a large section of LeBreton Flats over the next year will be used to cap a former landfill, say National Capital Commission staff.

The NCC’s board of directors approved a $4.9-million contract on Tuesday for the cleanup of 6.5 hectares bordered by Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to the north, an open aqueduct to the south, Booth Street to the east and a stretch north of Preston Street to the west.

Using the contaminated soil to reshape and cap a former landfill on Ridge Road will save the majority of expensive landfilling costs, staff told the board during a teleconference meeting.

The remediation is the next step in a plan to clean up and develop LeBreton Flats, some of which has been done in a Claridge Homes development on land to the east. A further report on plans for the area is expected to go to the board in January.

Work under the contract approved Tuesday would see soil removed down to bedrock. The project is expected to be completed by December 2013, and will leave a fenced-off area that’s between two and four metres deep, staff said, until decisions are made about who is building what.

The contaminated soil contains metals and hydrocarbons, according to environmental assessment documents, as most industrial and residential buildings at LeBreton Flats were destroyed by a fire in 1900 that left the area covered in ash. The following decades saw residential and commercial use that included service stations and scrap yards before all buildings were demolished in the 1960s, and parts of the site were used for snow dumping between 1970 and 1990.

Pathways and trails running through the property will be closed for the cleanup work, and increased traffic should be expected near Preston Street, says a staff report to the board.

The contract was awarded to a joint venture between Milestone Environmental Contracting and R.W. Tomlinson, which submitted the lowest of five bids, according to staff. Other proposals ranged from about $5.3 million to $11.2 million.

The NCC is to pay 15 per cent of the cost, with the remainder covered by the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan program.

[email protected]

twitter.com/NecoCockburn
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[Nepean]

On my way to work this morning, my bus drove past Lebreton Flats, and I noticed that a bulldozer and an excavator were busy at work on the site of the next phase on this project. (Construction crews are also busy on the site located right across from the War Museum, although I think this is a separate project).

The next phase of the Lebretion project has taken so long to get started I thought I wouldn't see the day when things really started to get rolling!

[McC]

Originally Posted by Nepean

(Construction crews are also busy on the site located right across from the War Museum, although I think this is a separate project).

see the post immediately preceding yours

[Nepean]

Originally Posted by McC

see the post immediately preceding yours

I guess I am too eager for the weekend to start because I forgot about the post next to mine!

[Radster]

I was just looking at other threads and came across some interesting designs in Slovakia, this is for an infill area (similar in size to Lebreton Flats) in their capital (Bratislava), just outside their historic old town. Its amazing what a design competition can yield, and it just makes you want to cry when you compare what they will get, and what we are getting!

Interesting renders of all the proposals in there.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1439207

[McC]

I dunno, they're neat to look at, but it all seems pretty "towers in the parky" to me, and those sweepy multilevel open spaces look like they might be just awful in the real world: it's all cut up so you can't get from one to another, a lot don't look like nice places for a picnic, and all sliced up in little arcs so you can't even kick a soccer ball around...?

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Radster

I was just looking at other threads and came across some interesting designs in Slovakia, this is for an infill area (similar in size to Lebreton Flats) in their capital (Bratislava), just outside their historic old town. Its amazing what a design competition can yield, and it just makes you want to cry when you compare what they will get, and what we are getting!

Interesting renders of all the proposals in there.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1439207

You can't build that here..its not compatible with the rest of Centretown....how do you think outside the box....I'd love to see the reaction of some of the key elected officials in Ottawa for that type of design.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by McC

I dunno, they're neat to look at, but it all seems pretty "towers in the parky" to me, and those sweepy multilevel open spaces look like they might be just awful in the real world: it's all cut up so you can't get from one to another, a lot don't look like nice places for a picnic, and all sliced up in little arcs so you can't even kick a soccer ball around...?

Just think of the budget for winter maintenance, and then add in accessibility concerns. Flat and Level outdoor spaces work for a reason.

[McC]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Just think of the budget for winter maintenance, and then add in accessibility concerns. Flat and Level outdoor spaces work for a reason.

Yeah good point about that too, see for example the Garden of the Provinces and Territories: the best (most direct, fastest, safest, prettiest, etc.) way to get from the NCC's Lebreton Flats up into the CBD, but the NCC closes and chains it off from October or November to sometime in April (dates approximate) so that they don't have to maintain the staircases and ramps in winter.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by McC

Yeah good point about that too, see for example the Garden of the Provinces and Territories: the best (most direct, fastest, safest, prettiest, etc.) way to get from the NCC's Lebreton Flats up into the CBD, but the NCC closes and chains it off from October or November to sometime in April (dates approximate) so that they don't have to maintain the staircases and ramps in winter.

The NCC doesn't maintain much in the winter.

[McC]

Originally Posted by Capital Shaun

The NCC doesn't maintain much in the winter.

except anywhere you can drive a car (or a truck: the canal)

[Radster]

Originally Posted by McC

I dunno, they're neat to look at, but it all seems pretty "towers in the parky" to me, and those sweepy multilevel open spaces look like they might be just awful in the real world: it's all cut up so you can't get from one to another, a lot don't look like nice places for a picnic, and all sliced up in little arcs so you can't even kick a soccer ball around...?

And what do we have being built in Lebreton Flats? Architecturally-lame blocks, open spaces, car-centric, awful, etc. Nothing different than elsewhere in Ottawa. Only tower that actually looks different (not counting the Charlefort projects), is the Windmill condos at the end of Queen street.

Anyway, your reaction is a typical Ottawa reaction, that an avant-garde architercture such as the Bratislava one would not fit into this sleepy, boring government town landscape (yes, town, as it hasn't grown up to be a city just yet). Plus, I wasn't referring to the landscaping, but to the actual towers/buildings. But since you mention the landscaping, picnicking, walking around and kicking a soccer ball, I can bet that this Bratislava project will trump the Lebreton Flats in that regard 100%. Its Europe afterall, people walk everywhere there (such as to buy groceries), take public transit, picnic and play soccer way more than here. lol I'm sure those living in Lebreton all depend on their car, maybe some on the bus, and don't spend time outside on greenspace much.