I went to visit them today, and I would say they have great presentation (though I wasn't served by a salespersons). The book they give is very high quality, with sort of a rubbery cover and colourful, thick, glossy pages. They also had a model and a model suite.
For someone of my age (a young, urban "professional") or even if you're single or a couple, it's a decent space. Some units are not very big (around 400 sqft), which is a bit disappointing considering their price, but it is all about location. It's right by transit, in the middle of downtown, near Bank street, which may be getting a facelift with the BIA looking to get new retailers, and if you work downtown you live near your work. Despite the price per unit size, they're still affordable (mostly between 200-450k, with several 2-storey penthouses above 700k-900k).
So far they're 75% sold, and will start construction once they reach 80% (they're hoping between July and September), to be completed by September 2015.
Despite this being another box shape, I really like it's design, in particular the glass windows are set back with frames set out for the balconies. There's a separate entrance for the hotel, with the condo's elevators located in the back (I feel the space in front of the elevators may be a bit too small). There appears to be a gap of some sort between this building and the window-less building on Albert, but on the 5th floor overlooking Slater there's a terrace with a hot tub outside, games room, theatre, kitchen and dining, gym, lounge.
I hope that with this building and a potential building where the parkade is beside BMO the area will be enlivened, and hopefully the plaza in front can be redone to make it a wonderful open space in our downtown.
I hate the building behind it, though. Seven stories with no windows... It would be nicer if they could have demolished it and had this building open onto Albert. If that section is ever demolished, it might be a bit awkward to put another building in there.
Verdict: I actually really like this building and am excited for it. We don't have too many centrally located residential/hotels in Ottawa. Usually our CBD is just office buildings from Wellington to Gloucester, Lyon to Elgin; residential is located on the periphery (Mondrian is on Laurier, but other than that everything is outside the aforementioned area). Buildings are not mixed-use, either, so there isn't a whole lot drawing people into the CBD (it's like any intensified Tunney's Pasture - it's not very good or bursting with vitality).
Tribeca model, southern side by
Shel DeF on Flickr
Tribeca model, southwestern side by
Shel DeF on Flickr
Tribeca model, northern side by
Shel DeF on Flickr
Prev
Linear Mode
