Claridge Icon [505 Preston St] | 143m | 45 fl | Completed

[brentgaulois]

Amazing! This project was approved at 45 stories! Though von Finckenstein I think is being a bit melodramatic.

Dow's lake wouldn't flood the parking garage or be drained, would it? It's far enough away that it wouldn't cause such damage, I feel.

Committee gives OK for tallest condo tower in Ottawa at foot of Preston Street

OTTAWA — The tallest condo tower in Ottawa got the go-ahead from city council’s planning committee Tuesday.

The Claridge Homes tower still needs fine design work, but the rezoning allowing the 45-storey building to be constructed at the northeast corner of Preston Street and Carling Avenue was approved unanimously, even getting the backing of Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes, who represents the area.

“This is an appropriate area for that height,” Holmes said. The more tall buildings that go in on Carling, she figures, the fewer will creep up Preston Street into Little Italy.

“It sets a standard that has not necessarily been met in the past,” agreed Councillor Peter Hume, who chairs the planning committee.

Claridge hired Toronto architect David Pontarini and has clearly gone to some trouble to make the building attractive and unusual, and to preserve more than four metres (about 15 feet) of space between the building and the roads around it for wide sidewalks, trees and such amenities as patios.

Pontarini touted the building’s curvy balconies and its narrow base as attractive design features. The top of the building probably still needs work, he allowed, and said he’d work with the city to improve it.

The close work of Claridge’s designers and the city’s planners is an example for others, Hume said.

“We want them to stretch. We want them to aspire for more.”

Not everyone was thrilled. Little Italy resident Luciano Pradal suggested the building’s nine-storey-deep parking garage will essentially drain nearby Dow’s Lake, requiring pumps to send millions of gallons of water into the city’s sewers forever. A detailed geotechnical study is supposed to make sure that the water is minimized.

Claridge’s Neil Malhotra also pledged to work with a Lutheran church just to the north, whose stained-glass windows are likely to lose a lot of their southern light, at best, and whose members are worried the excavation next door could tear the building apart.

“This came upon us out of the blue,” the church’s president told the committee. “It’s going to destroy us, and if not, severely damage us.”

The church leader isn’t just anybody, either: he’s Konrad von Finckenstein, the former head of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and a retired federal judge. He promised to appeal the rezoning to the Ontario Municipal Board as a violation of a plan for the neighbourhood that imagined an office tower on the site instead of Claridge’s condo.

But von Finckenstein subsided somewhat when Malhotra agreed “to make them happy,” at Hume’s insistence.

“We’re quite happy to work with the church, whether it’s keeping them on the site or exiting,” Malhotra promised.

The Claridge tower is only the tallest thing proposed for Ottawa for now: Richcraft is working on plans for two 48-storey towers on the other side of Preston, part of a major remodelling of the neighbourhood around the Carling O-Train station.

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ottawacitizen.com/greaterottawa
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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/ta...city+council+planning/8218606/story.html

[Harley613]

i know this has been beaten to death...but where the hell are the buyers coming from for all these new condos? ottawa isn't exactly an immigration hotspot...i'm 32 and i have friends buying condos, but not many... i can't figure out the demographic/source of this boom.

[Cre47]

Definitely a very great day for the city of Ottawa. (A very sad day my eye.) It's about time. Now let's have the Dow Honda proposal go through now and eventually some 50+.

Not sure if it was worth posting this... anyways

http://bulldogottawa.com/ottawa-welcome-to-everywhere-u-s-a/#more-7426

[NOWINYOW]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Definitely a very great day for the city of Ottawa. (A very sad day my eye.) It's about time. Now let's have the Dow Honda proposal go through now and eventually some 50+.

Not sure if it was worth posting this... anyways

http://bulldogottawa.com/ottawa-welcome-to-everywhere-u-s-a/#more-7426

Good link. Thanks for posting!

Leads me to ask a few questions to the author of the editorial.

Where would you rather build? Outwards? More sprawl? And when it all boils down, just how different can one build a tall building? I suppose they could be round but aside from that the structure is basic. Cosmetics can be added to give the building more character, but it's still a square structure going upwards.

I suppose one could propose a large pentagon type building that wouldn't obstruct a long-view, but surprise surprise...people want windows facing outside. Have you ever stayed in a hotel room that faces towards an inside courtyard? One or two nights of that and I'm paying for an upgrade to a room with a view!

Take a pill, NIMBYS. You live in a city area of 1 million plus. There are only three directions to expand. Outwards, downwards or upwards.

Move to Kemptiville or Smiths Falls etc (no offence to those living there) if you want a small town feel.

I don't think anyone is trying to emulate Toronto or the USA in Ottawa. We're big kids now and we can move along and away from wearing the short pants and progress to putting on the "big boy pants"!

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Definitely a very great day for the city of Ottawa. (A very sad day my eye.) It's about time. Now let's have the Dow Honda proposal go through now and eventually some 50+.

Not sure if it was worth posting this... anyways

http://bulldogottawa.com/ottawa-welcome-to-everywhere-u-s-a/#more-7426

hilarious. i love how he compares it to vancouver...my opinion of vancouver is that is suffered from the same uniform height issues as ottawa until one One Wall was built. then they got Living Shangri La...and BOOM...the skyline went from zero to hero in two buildings flat. they had incredible density until One Wall, but the skyline was still incredibly boring. two slightly taller buildings fixed that, as will be the case in ottawa soon. ironic that ken claims we are getting 'giant, impersonal, soul-crushing, huge, poorly designed condos' when in actual fact we are getting podium based slender towers that have more personality than anything ever built in this stodgy government city before. i honestly wonder if ken is smoking a little too much crack. he would honestly rather have every eligible dense city block filled with three 20 story stumps than a slender and 🞵🞵🞵🞵 tower surrounded by wide sidewalks and maybe even a park. why...because he's ken gray...i can't think of any other reason.

[Harley613]

Here is my response to that article:
You know that density in these neighbourhoods is inevitable, right Ken? You’re pushing for more multi-building stumps and less slender beautiful towers? I guess you hate wide sidewalks and urban parks, and prefer two-three towers taking up entire city blocks at 15-20 stories? ‘Ottawa’s distinct character and the elements that made it great are being crushed by thousands of tonnes of poured concrete.’ You prefer multiple, and less environmentally friendly stump towers with more heating plants and parking garages per unit than singular efficient and beautiful towers? I could go on forever, but you my friend…you are misled. If you really care for the character of this city you should be pushing for smaller footprints, more ecologically sound construction, higher heights…less wind tunnels, less broad shadows, less stumps taking up entire neighbourhoods. You should be angry at any developer that wants to skimp on height and fill an entire neighbourhood with giant footprints and multiple towers. You are anachronistic in your opinions, outdated, outmoded, and generally just stupid. Tall buildings are inevitable and desirable with the right conditions and in the right neighbourhood. I love that the city is trading height for community contributions, but you are probably too short-sighted to even see the benefit of this. Anyhow, end of rant. Keep being a dinosaur Ken…keep being thirty years behind this beautiful and newly progressive city of ours…

[J.OT13]

So many things wrong with that article.

First off, the picture is Chicago; I knew it right off the bat.

Also, there is transit in Little Italy, it's called the O-Train, you know, the one that's been there for 10 years and is about to get an increase in capacity (although full conversion might be needed sooner rather than latter).

Furthermore, building the same amount of low density units in the suburbs would create even more traffic on the Queensway.

I certainly don't want to see buildings of this height everywhere, but this is a good spot.

[bartlebooth]

I think he makes a number of good points in that article. I would love for him to elaborate his arguments but there is some truth to what he is saying (I don't follow his blog and I know nothing about him or what kind of articles he normally writes so I am going off the link that was posted - I will have to do more research).

One thing I agree with is the fact that these new projects command pretty high rents in the commercial spaces that are built. As a result, we see a lot of chain stores (Shoppers, Starbucks, Banks) who have the resources to set up shop while smaller local businesses vacate the neighborhood. I find this leads to more of a generic urban experience, one that lacks variety and uniqueness of older main streets (think Bank St. in Centretown where you have galleries, pubs, 🞵🞵🞵 shops, live music venues, art stores, comic book shops, food stores, etc...) and in a sense make parts of Ottawa feel like parts of Toronto.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Harley613

i know this has been beaten to death...but where the hell are the buyers coming from for all these new condos? ottawa isn't exactly an immigration hotspot...i'm 32 and i have friends buying condos, but not many... i can't figure out the demographic/source of this boom.

Metro Ottawa is not an immigration hot spot but it still benefits from healthy growth with nearly 20,000 new people every year. If the city gets 3,000 new houses every year no one reacts. Same with 10 or 20 new five story condo buildings. But 40 stories makes the news.

Gas and parking is expensive... Living in a house takes more time and energy as well as money for maintenance. Living in or close to downtown is convenient and fun... Living in Kanata or Orleans for me and for most of my friends is dull.

This condo boom is therefore fuelled by population growth, economics and a change in behaviour.

[Cre47]

Hardly USA for sure. First, cities similar of size to Ottawa (i.e Indianapolis, Jacksonville, FL, Austin, TX) have all their highrises clustered in a few blocks. Actually, with the exception of New York, Chicago and due to poor planning and zoning Houston, TX, every US city is like that (that's including Tampa, Dallas and Detroit), all or almost all highrise are all clustered within a 1 km or 2km. With the exception of the Williams Tower on I-610 in Houston (I know it might be a different name) all of the 5-10 tallest of each city are in the CBD or less than 2 or 3 km. And most of the high-rise new condo projects planned in the US cities are planned in the CBD (Austin, TX have a few of those under construction at around 50 stories right in the CBD itself)

Pretty much the same for the five, six major cities in Canada (except Olympic Stadium), except of course here in Ottawa

Here, it is spread out all over the place and many of the tallest are not even in the CBD itself (Le Parc, Metropole, R.H. Coats, and now Claridge Icon, and eventually the Dow Honda site and perhaps the Wellbron (there was also that proposal - now quashed I guess at Terry Fox and the 417 as well and a formal proposal on Prince of Wales at Heron). I know Toronto and the area have buildings spread out all over the place but at least all there tallest (minus Aboslute World in Mississauga are in the CBD) We might have one of the most strangest skylines in North America.

But something is true about about Building Everywhere USA actually, it's like Orleans, Kanata and Barrhaven, sprawl, sprawl and more sprawl

[OTSkyline]

Ottawa's "downtown" development didn't work for two reasons.

1) The height restrictions because of the Parliament and Peace Tower. The whole area of Laurier/Bank/Slater/Queen can't go much over 20-25 stories, therefore all buildings in the area are lot-to-lot and the same height. I mean even Winnipeg, Coquitlam, Edmonton, Quebec City have taller buildings than Ottawa. I know I work on Laurier and part of that street has 5 buildings one right next to the other, all lot-to-lot and allt he same height! Talk about a monotone wall or "canyon" effect.

2) Ottawa's downtown has nobody living in it! Have you ever wandered on Sparks St or anywhere downtown on a week night or a weekend? No one! Now I tried to understand why and the answer became clear, nobody is living there! Not because they don't want to but because there is very very little residential buildings in downtown.. 90% of them are government office. This is improving a little bit now with the new constructions like Tribeca, Cathedral Hill and the Merit but still we have a long way to go before it comes vibrant.

Therefore, that's why the skyline and the downtown in Ottawa is SO dull and boring. Creating a "new" downtown or hub in Little Italy would work and be a good idea. Personally, being a 22 yrs old young professional I would buy a condo in Little Italy before buying one in downtown.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Ottawa's "downtown" development didn't work for two reasons.

1) The height restrictions because of the Parliament and Peace Tower. The whole area of Laurier/Bank/Slater/Queen can't go much over 20-25 stories, therefore all buildings in the area are lot-to-lot and the same height. I mean even Winnipeg, Coquitlam, Edmonton, Quebec City have taller buildings than Ottawa. I know I work on Laurier and part of that street has 5 buildings one right next to the other, all lot-to-lot and allt he same height! Talk about a monotone wall or "canyon" effect.

2) Ottawa's downtown has nobody living in it! Have you ever wandered on Sparks St or anywhere downtown on a week night or a weekend? No one! Now I tried to understand why and the answer became clear, nobody is living there! Not because they don't want to but because there is very very little residential buildings in downtown.. 90% of them are government office. This is improving a little bit now with the new constructions like Tribeca, Cathedral Hill and the Merit but still we have a long way to go before it comes vibrant.

Therefore, that's why the skyline and the downtown in Ottawa is SO dull and boring. Creating a "new" downtown or hub in Little Italy would work and be a good idea. Personally, being a 22 yrs old young professional I would buy a condo in Little Italy before buying one in downtown.

Too be fair, most cities (in North America at least) have little or no population in their CBDs. Vancouver is one of few exceptions. Of course, other cities have attractions in their CBDs to attract people on evenings and weekends.

Another Ottawa specific problem is how much we continue to rely on cars and buses. When we finish work, we either go straight home in our cars because it's convenient or take the bus because of poor service after rush hour.

But anyway, with the new condo buildings you mentioned (and don't forget the Slater and Re), a possible downtown CBD casino (see my post in the casino thread) maybe with a new hotel and performance space, the Confederation Line (maybe not to its full potential until extensions east and west) and improvements to Sparks Street, we might see some more life within the next 5-10 years.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Hardly USA for sure. First, cities similar of size to Ottawa (i.e Indianapolis, Jacksonville, FL, Austin, TX) have all their highrises clustered in a few blocks. Actually, with the exception of New York, Chicago and due to poor planning and zoning Houston, TX, every US city is like that (that's including Tampa, Dallas and Detroit), all or almost all highrise are all clustered within a 1 km or 2km. With the exception of the Williams Tower on I-610 in Houston (I know it might be a different name) all of the 5-10 tallest of each city are in the CBD or less than 2 or 3 km. And most of the high-rise new condo projects planned in the US cities are planned in the CBD (Austin, TX have a few of those under construction at around 50 stories right in the CBD itself)

Pretty much the same for the five, six major cities in Canada (except Olympic Stadium), except of course here in Ottawa

Here, it is spread out all over the place and many of the tallest are not even in the CBD itself (Le Parc, Metropole, R.H. Coats, and now Claridge Icon, and eventually the Dow Honda site and perhaps the Wellbron (there was also that proposal - now quashed I guess at Terry Fox and the 417 as well and a formal proposal on Prince of Wales at Heron). I know Toronto and the area have buildings spread out all over the place but at least all there tallest (minus Aboslute World in Mississauga are in the CBD) We might have one of the most strangest skylines in North America.

But something is true about about Building Everywhere USA actually, it's like Orleans, Kanata and Barrhaven, sprawl, sprawl and more sprawl

Washington DC is another peculiarity, due to even stricter height restrictions - all of its tall buildings are clustered in the surrounding suburbs of Maryland and Virginia...

[rocketphish]

Tallest condo tower in Ottawa approved for Little Italy

By David Reevely, OTTAWA CITIZEN April 24, 2013 1:12 PM

OTTAWA — Claridge Homes got permission to build Ottawa’s tallest building at the foot of Preston Street Wednesday, with a unanimous city council vote to rezone a former gas station for a building about 45 storeys high.

It’s the first very tall building to be approved for the neighbourhood around Preston and Carling, which has seen a boom in condo projects close to the Carling O-Train station. The “Icon,” as Claridge calls it, has a wavy, fluid design that’s meant to set the standard for a new mini-skyline for Ottawa at the north end of Dow’s Lake, a southwestern outpost of downtown away from the city core.

Coun. Diane Holmes, who represents the area, voted for the project but complained that the city isn’t extracting enough money from Claridge for projects to benefit the nearby community, as it’s allowed to do under provincial law. She estimates the rezoning is worth $150 million to the company and the city is only getting about $1.1 million for transportation and park improvements.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Tallest+con...e+Italy/8288553/story.html#ixzz2RP2j42yB

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by bartlebooth

I think he makes a number of good points in that article. I would love for him to elaborate his arguments but there is some truth to what he is saying (I don't follow his blog and I know nothing about him or what kind of articles he normally writes so I am going off the link that was posted - I will have to do more research).

One thing I agree with is the fact that these new projects command pretty high rents in the commercial spaces that are built. As a result, we see a lot of chain stores (Shoppers, Starbucks, Banks) who have the resources to set up shop while smaller local businesses vacate the neighborhood. I find this leads to more of a generic urban experience, one that lacks variety and uniqueness of older main streets (think Bank St. in Centretown where you have galleries, pubs, 🞵🞵🞵 shops, live music venues, art stores, comic book shops, food stores, etc...) and in a sense make parts of Ottawa feel like parts of Toronto.

Agreed, while I like what I see of this proposal and think the Bronson / Carling intersection is an ideal spot for high rises, the broader issues remain.

What are we doing to maintain the uniqueness of these communities? Little Italy won't be Little Italy if the coffee shops and restaurants have to move out. (Just as a the Market won't be the market if the food vendors are displaced.) It's not the developers job to maintain this uniqueness. Once it's outlived its marketing value, developers largely don't care about the community identity. It's the local politicians' job to take the long view and stand up for the community, so the issue of campaign funding is the important one. We should absolutely ban campaign contributions from developers.

Diane Holmes' complaint in the Citizen article is relevant to this. In exchange for the huge increase in zoned height, the city should have got more than 1.1 million in community benefits from Claridge. Those benefits could have been used to reinforce the uniqueness of the community - building a community centre or sports facility that could have been a focus for Little Italy.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by umbria27

Diane Holmes' complaint in the Citizen article is relevant to this. In exchange for the huge increase in zoned height, the city should have got more than 1.1 million in community benefits from Claridge. Those benefits could have been used to reinforce the uniqueness of the community - building a community centre or sports facility that could have been a focus for Little Italy.

I agree with you regarding Diane Holmes' complaint about lack of $$ coming back to the City from the developers...but I find that most councillors tune her out when she is on a soap box as she is so acidic with her barbs and she comes across as a harpy.

I also lost credibility today when she lamented Preston Street losing its focus as the heart of the Italian social and financial community...I found that kind of rich as there are not many people of italian background living in the area anymore and many of them come to the area infrequently. The Italian Festival is a key event but on a day to day basis, not so much. The financial community statement left me scratching my head.

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by Harley613

i know this has been beaten to death...but where the hell are the buyers coming from for all these new condos? ottawa isn't exactly an immigration hotspot...i'm 32 and i have friends buying condos, but not many... i can't figure out the demographic/source of this boom.

Condos are generally marketed to young singles and couples looking to get on the property ladder, downsizing empty nesters and investors. The relative rarity is the owner who buys young and stays downtown all their life. There's usually an exile to the suburbs while the children are born. This is getting way of topic, but this problem has to be solved if we're really to stop sprawl. One more condo doesn't mean one less suburban house if that condo owner eventually decamps to the burbs anyway.

On the topic of demand, according to this, Ottawa has about 15 months of condo inventory, compared to 5 months for Toronto. My guess is that a lot of these newly approved condos won't get built for some time.

[ThaLoveDocta]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Tallest condo tower in Ottawa approved for Little Italy

By David Reevely, OTTAWA CITIZEN April 24, 2013 1:12 PM

Coun. Diane Holmes, who represents the area, voted for the project but complained that the city isn’t extracting enough money from Claridge for projects to benefit the nearby community, as it’s allowed to do under provincial law. She estimates the rezoning is worth $150 million to the company and the city is only getting about $1.1 million for transportation and park improvements.

I love comments like this.
Where the hell does she get these numbers? (I bet I can guess...)

The city would have squat without the rezoning, so you can't really have your cake, eat it, and then complain you didn't get enough of the cake someone else made...

[waterloowarrior]

Grand opening May 11th

[K-133]

Originally Posted by ThaLoveDocta

I love comments like this.
Where the hell does she get these numbers? (I bet I can guess...)

The city would have squat without the rezoning, so you can't really have your cake, eat it, and then complain you didn't get enough of the cake someone else made...

I'm all for rezoning but the city (i.e. you and I) should get a piece of the pie, otherwise what's the point other than to fill the pockets of the developer and to have something pretty to look at?

Its a mutually beneficial arrangement and the benefits should be appropriately shared.

I don't particularly like Dianne Holmes, and her numbers are probably bonkers but fundamentally she is right about this.