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

[acottawa]

It looks like a presentation centre.

[Harley613]

It looks like they are setting up a photo op like the one they did for Rideau + Chapel

Trinity_Timber_Ottawa-009 by harley613, on Flickr

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

Anyone want to make any guesses? I see an SNCL van there...

Full resolution here


Edit: checking the site plan, this looks to be about where the pedestrian bridge is going to be... but it's still something?

Interestingly, SNC took their logos off of all the pickups they purchased for the Trillium Line project after they were being dragged through the news in the spring. I haven't seen a branded vehicle working on that project in months. It's quite possible they happen do be doing engineering work on the Trinity project.

[UrbOttawa]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Interestingly, SNC took their logos off of all the pickups they purchased for the Trillium Line project after they were being dragged through the news in the spring. I haven't seen a branded vehicle working on that project in months. It's quite possible they happen do be doing engineering work on the Trinity project.

Good call - just checked the site plan drawings and it's SNC that is noted as the mechanical engineer.

[dr.jallad]

Wow finally some great news!
Is the project confirmed to be all rental?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by dr.jallad

Wow finally some great news!
Is the project confirmed to be all rental?

From everything we've heard so far, it will be rental.

[AuxTown]

From the OBJ:

Trinity Centre project a go
Despite the market downturn, the report pointed out that Trinity Development Group is proceeding with the development of its Trinity Centre project near Bayview Station. The three-tower mixed-use development will add more than 500,000 square feet of office space to the fringe core just a few kilometres west of downtown and will “feature aspects of pandemic planning,” Colliers said without elaborating.

Some bad (? good) news about office vacancy rates but overall Ottawa is holding as strong as would have been predicted for such a conservative/stable economy during the pandemic.

https://obj.ca/article/real-estate/non-r...b-office-markets-take-hit-sublease-space

Link to the Colliers report https://www.collierscanada.com/en-CA/Research/ottawa-office-market-report-q3-2020

I wonder what they mean with "aspects of pandemic planning when constructed"? Common spaces with physical distancing built in? Purell dispensers every 10 feet?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

From the OBJ:



Some bad (? good) news about office vacancy rates but overall Ottawa is holding as strong as would have been predicted for such a conservative/stable economy during the pandemic.

https://obj.ca/article/real-estate/non-r...b-office-markets-take-hit-sublease-space

Link to the Colliers report https://www.collierscanada.com/en-CA/Research/ottawa-office-market-report-q3-2020

I wonder what they mean with "aspects of pandemic planning when constructed"? Common spaces with physical distancing built in? Purell dispensers every 10 feet?

Despite the market downturn, the report pointed out that Trinity Development Group is proceeding with the development of its Trinity Centre project near Bayview Station. The three-tower mixed-use development will add more than 500,000 square feet of office space to the fringe core just a few kilometres west of downtown and will “feature aspects of pandemic planning,” Colliers said without elaborating.

This makes it sound like they are building the office tower soon despite the uncertainties. Still no firm date.

[Harley613]

Well folks, it's time to officially change this to 'Under Construction'! I'm at the site now, pics to come later!

[OCCheetos]

I'm sure your pictures will be infinitely better than mine Harley so I'll let you post yours first

I still have some doubts about whether this is really for Trinity. It still looks a lot like the kind of equipment you'd used to build caissons for a pedestrian bridge, but maybe I missed something.

[yotajoe]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Well folks, it's time to officially change this to 'Under Construction'! I'm at the site now, pics to come later!

Saw a few trucks pulling in the site while I was on the train, I don't think they'll be slow to start with this one..

[AuxTown]

Cautiously optimistic maybe??

[OCCheetos]

Here's the site plan [rotated] for reference:



I guess it really depends on where they start drilling, but right now that machine is not where the pedestrian bridge will be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but what exactly are the references to "Richmond Street", "Loretta Avenue", and "Champagne Avenue" on the site plan supposed to be for? They're nowhere near the site.

[Kitchissippi]

Maybe they're drilling down for a geotechnical profile of the bedrock to properly design the foundation?

[yotajoe]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Maybe they're drilling down for a geotechnical profile of the bedrock to properly design the foundation?

That's what I thought too, but apparently they already bored holes for a geotech survey back in 2015. It should be up on devapps

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Well folks, it's time to officially change this to 'Under Construction'! I'm at the site now, pics to come later!

[Soi-Fon]

God 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 dang it, Harley! If you give me false hopes about this one, I'm sending a Wendigo after you!

[Harley613]

Apologies for the potential false start folks. Maybe I got a little too excited when I saw the heavy equipment.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Apologies for the potential false start folks. Maybe I got a little too excited when I saw the heavy equipment.

No worries Harley

I suspect they will use the Trinity land as a staging area for Stage 2, beyond just the pedestrian bridge, and we might see contraction for the project start after they've completed work at Bayview (so late 2021 to mid-2022).

[cr872190]

Originally Posted by Catenary

My feeling is that these are for the bridge. I've never seen a condo/tower that started with cassions, they almost all start with excavation for parking or driving piles for support. Cassions to support the bridge make sense to do first here if you consider that access to this side of the site will be difficult once excavation begins.

Though the bridge will be connected to the building, it's not uncommon to have pedestrian bridges supported independently of the structure, as it simplifies design. Distinct foundations separate the building and the bridge and lead to shorter spans and easier installation of the bridge.

Finally, the bridge is labelled "by others" on the Trinity site plan, so it is likely the responsibility of OC Transpo and either part of the stage 2 contract or being prepped now for later installation.



They have laid gravel out to the corner of the site closest to Bayview and there's nothing there right now, so I'm guessing that is where the work will be. This is roughly where the bridge is, you can see a new sanitary manhole there just north of the gravel in the overhead shot, and this lines up with the "Connection to existing sanitary" labelled on the plans.

As for the roads, this area is a grid so they were likely all surveyed originally. Because of the railways and Wellington on an angle as a forced road, many of the roads would never have been opened, but they appear on the plans.

In particular, Champagne is now City Centre, and it was only renamed fairly recently to make it distinct from the southern portion of Champagne. The self storage facility is the former Champagne streetcar barn, and OC Transpo referred to the bus layup on the north side as Champagne Layup up until it's closure last year.

Loretta Avenue exists south of the site, and is the next street west of Champagne. It would run right through the site of it were to exist.

As for Richmond, I believe this is what is now Bayswater, except Bayswater ended up with a swing to the west. It was likely renamed to avoid duplication too, but much earlier.

I'm not so sure. My understanding based on the elevation drawings is that there are no bridge supports on the east side of the tracks.