900 Albert St | 234/203/105m | 65/56/23fl | Approved

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by phil235

Why should a community planning exercise be used to set an arbitrary height limit for the junction station of our LRT line? Why is height the key consideration at all? The focus of these exercises seems to be almost exclusively on height, when there are other factors that have far more bearing on the livability of the area. And to be clear, this project is not bigger than it would have been at 30 storeys. It's just taller.

Also, this project has significant retail and office components, so not sure what you mean by your second comment. Those will attract people. And a large number of people will travel there because they live there, I suspect most using the LRT.

I get the value of a CDP as an input (not the final word) in planning for a local main street. I don't see that value extending to transit hubs. Those need to be looked at from a wider perspective.

My comment was not specific to this locality, although still applicable. I don't have strong opinions about this project but a mainly residential project at potentially the most important transit junction is less effective compared to a more public-oriented project with residential on the periphery. We can tell from our rapid transit experience that transit stations surrounded by residential towers are always quieter.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

My comment was not specific to this locality, although still applicable. I don't have strong opinions about this project but a mainly residential project at potentially the most important transit junction is less effective compared to a more public-oriented project with residential on the periphery. We can tell from our rapid transit experience that transit stations surrounded by residential towers are always quieter.

Absolutely you want mixed use. Office uses keep the station busy at rush hour, but residential units and other uses are important for off-peak. Whether they are connected to the station or within a few hundred metres of the station shouldn't really matter.

[acottawa]

Does trinity have any track record with tall buildings? They appear to be primarily a developer of big box stores. I'm a little skeptical this thing gets built.

[1overcosc]

^ They're moving into high rise. They've got several proposals in both Toronto and Ottawa that involve high density residential.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Does trinity have any track record with tall buildings? They appear to be primarily a developer of big box stores. I'm a little skeptical this thing gets built.

Do not worry. Trinity may be classified as the developer however, they contract the work out to capable General Contractors for all of their projects. 900 Albert has Trinity teamed up with Doran Construction AKA Taggart which is building/has built the Soba, City Park, Wellington west, the East Market, the Mondrian, and the Central Condo towers.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ They're moving into high rise. They've got several proposals in both Toronto and Ottawa that involve high density residential.

They have been over looking highrise projects for a while, they have moved into the highrise developments years ago in Toronto and Ottawa. You can research more but their most recent in Ottawa were the two condo towers at TD Place.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

Do not worry. Trinity may be classified as the developer however, they contract the work out to capable General Contractors for all of their projects. 900 Albert has Trinity teamed up with Doran Construction AKA Taggart which is building/has built the Soba, City Park, Wellington west, the East Market, the Mondrian, and the Central Condo towers.

Ok, so a company that has primarily build big box stores and has a few high rise buildings in the aspirational phase has hired a contractor that has never built anything more than 20 stories to build one of the tallest residential buildings in the western world in a location that has a lot of potential but will probably take many decades to develop in a medium-sized city with a soft condo market and modest residential rents.

I recognize I'm a cynic, but I am a little surprised I am the only one here with doubts.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Ok, so a company that has primarily build big box stores and has a few high rise buildings in the aspirational phase has hired a contractor that has never built anything more than 20 stories to build one of the tallest residential buildings in the western world in a location that has a lot of potential but will probably take many decades to develop in a medium-sized city with a soft condo market and modest residential rents.

I recognize I'm a cynic, but I am a little surprised I am the only one here with doubts.

Doran has built a a few buildings that are just over 20 stories. I understand that people who have no experience in the development sector lack understanding of construction. 20, 40, or 60 floors does not matter for a contractor who has experience and qualified sub-trades such as Bellai/Synergy who have constructed skyscrapers in Toronto and 40 plus buildings in Montreal. Your doubts are more than welcome but you have no idea how Trinity operates. Have some faith on the Skyscraper forum!

[waterloowarrior]

Just wanted to point out that Trinity is 1/3 partner. InterRent REIT (http://www.interrentreit.com/) (1/3) and PBC Group (https://pbcgroup.ca/) (1/3) own the rest of the joint venture.
https://pbcgroup.ca/news/pbc-group-in-a-joint-venture-with-interrent-and-trinity-developments/

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Just wanted to point out that Trinity is 1/3 partner. InterRent REIT (http://www.interrentreit.com/) (1/3) and PBC Group (https://pbcgroup.ca/) (1/3) own the rest of the joint venture.
https://pbcgroup.ca/news/pbc-group-in-a-joint-venture-with-interrent-and-trinity-developments/

Maybe I missed something in my quick look at their portfolios, but neither company seems to have done anything remotely like this before.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

Doran has built a a few buildings that are just over 20 stories. I understand that people who have no experience in the development sector lack understanding of construction. 20, 40, or 60 floors does not matter for a contractor who has experience and qualified sub-trades such as Bellai/Synergy who have constructed skyscrapers in Toronto and 40 plus buildings in Montreal. Your doubts are more than welcome but you have no idea how Trinity operates. Have some faith on the Skyscraper forum!

Point taken that I don't know anything about trinity's internal workings. Maybe they have acquired the right expertise to implement such a project. However I do think a sudden change in the type and scale of projects a company does raise questions.

I also find it a little surprising that there are no challenges in scaling projects by 45 stories. The proposed building is well above the maximum height of a construction crane, for example, which is how Dorian built their other buildings around town.

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Point taken that I don't know anything about trinity's internal workings. Maybe they have acquired the right expertise to implement such a project. However I do think a sudden change in the type and scale of projects a company does raise questions.

I also find it a little surprising that there are no challenges in scaling projects by 45 stories. The proposed building is well above the maximum height of a construction crane, for example, which is how Dorian built their other buildings around town.

I mean, Toronto has multiple buildings over that height, it's only 5 hours down the road.
To tunnel Confederation, they brought in people with experience from Spain.
It can't be that hard to find a subcontractor who can do it

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by silvergate

I mean, Toronto has multiple buildings over that height, it's only 5 hours down the road.
To tunnel Confederation, they brought in people with experience from Spain.
It can't be that hard to find a subcontractor who can do it

Exactly. Selling 50% of the condos in a totally alien market would be a different story but this is planned as rentals. Will they be able to rent this many units at that location? Who knows and who cares for our purposes as long as they have the cash and financing to build it now.

[Kitchissippi]

I think they should have been made to build the footbridge link to West Wellington as part of the development as well as the O-train link. Why should the taxpayers be the ones to pay for the connections that would bring more customers to their retail podium?

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Point taken that I don't know anything about trinity's internal workings. Maybe they have acquired the right expertise to implement such a project. However I do think a sudden change in the type and scale of projects a company does raise questions.

I also find it a little surprising that there are no challenges in scaling projects by 45 stories. The proposed building is well above the maximum height of a construction crane, for example, which is how Dorian built their other buildings around town.

Do you work for Claridge? Do you think then only Claridge should be able to build tall buildings in Ottawa? I am satisfied with their track record and the partners that they have secured

[HrDm180]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

They have been over looking highrise projects for a while, they have moved into the highrise developments years ago in Toronto and Ottawa. You can research more but their most recent in Ottawa were the two condo towers at TD Place.

Trinity did not build the residential at Lansdowne, Minto did. Trinity was responsible for the commercial buildings.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

Do you work for Claridge? Do you think then only Claridge should be able to build tall buildings in Ottawa? I am satisfied with their track record and the partners that they have secured

No, I have a pretty low opinion of Claridge.

Is the basis of your satisfaction that you like tall buildings and you want one built or have you seen anything in the partners' track record that would indicate they have the experience and capacity to deliver such a project?

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by silvergate

I mean, Toronto has multiple buildings over that height, it's only 5 hours down the road.
To tunnel Confederation, they brought in people with experience from Spain.
It can't be that hard to find a subcontractor who can do it

And none of those five hour away companies are involved. This is the opposite situationof the LRT. The city hired an experienced company to build the project. If they had hired a company with little experience I would have probably raised questions.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Exactly. Selling 50% of the condos in a totally alien market would be a different story but this is planned as rentals. Will they be able to rent this many units at that location? Who knows and who cares for our purposes as long as they have the cash and financing to build it now.

Whether they can rent units profitably is very important. We could end up with a half finished building or a hole in the ground or a building that quickly goes downmarket and brings social problems.

[ars]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

Should be done for sure (Icon should also have one as far as I'm concerned).

Done and done

Did my best with making the threads(the best I could do while making them at work )

Hopefully that will give more exposure to these awesome projects on this forum