Ascent [Claridge East Flats, 301 Lett St] | 86+102m | 25+30f | U/C

[zzptichka]

10 tower cranes in one picture. Love it.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

10 tower cranes in one picture. Love it.

The Great Clump ain't gonna Clump on it's own!

[originalmuffins]

Was hoping they'd push for a 50 floor tower and we saw that develop soon but I assume they're probably aiming to get that 60 floor tower on Carling finalized first. Would prefer if they pushed heights in both the East Flats and Carling.

[yotajoe]

Originally Posted by originalmuffins

Was hoping they'd push for a 50 floor tower and we saw that develop soon but I assume they're probably aiming to get that 60 floor tower on Carling finalized first. Would prefer if they pushed heights in both the East Flats and Carling.

Word on the street is the 60 story one on carling is going up real soon. I'm assuming its gonna start after the royal is topped out or when the moon is closer to completion. Take this with a grain of slat though.

[SL123]

Originally Posted by yotajoe

Word on the street is the 60 story one on carling is going up real soon. I'm assuming its gonna start after the royal is topped out or when the moon is closer to completion. Take this with a grain of slat though.

I don't think it's even been approved yet.

[yotajoe]

Originally Posted by SL123

I don't think it's even been approved yet.

It's Claridge lol they don't need approvals.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Personally, I wish Moon was never built, I'd take air over that blight on the already horrible Great Clump. Royale I'm reserving judgement for, but it's starting to look like it will be reasonable from Rideau, and horrible from every other angle. The only renders I have seen of this new one here look like something I put together on an Amiga in 1994.

I will NEVER understand how someone thought it was appropriate to have a 30 story blank facade at arguably the most prominent face of our skyline! What a farce.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

I will NEVER understand how someone thought it was appropriate to have a 30 story blank facade at arguably the most prominent face of our skyline! What a farce.

The worst part is that there is no development potential in the two blocks of Downtown between it and the escarpment, at least not in the next few decades, so this view is semi-permanent. Thankfully, development on the flats will block these nasty walls from most distant angles in the near future.

[OTSkyline]

We haven't seen many high res renders of these towers either. The last ones I saw looked like a mix-match of Lebreton Phase 1 (charcoal brick podium), 1976 Scott (bland white tower) and Claridge Loop (red accents) - so again, not super hopeful.

[J.OT13]

If that design is built, at least there will be something of a roof feature.

I think that's what bothers me the most with Moon; the lack of a distinctive top. Claridge did it with Tribeca, kind of did it with Icon, and then that's it.

[Harley613]

The problem with this design is that Claridge is incapable/unwilling to do glass curtain wall like in the render. It will end up being 50% light teal spandrel/50% window most likely.

[ServiceGuy]

Originally Posted by yotajoe

Word on the street is the 60 story one on carling is going up real soon. I'm assuming its gonna start after the royal is topped out or when the moon is closer to completion. Take this with a grain of slat though.

No. Process isn't far enough along to put shovels in the ground plus the condo market has completely out priced itself. No one would build a 60 story rental building. From a builder's standpoint, once you are above 30 stories you are adding costs not profits based on sq/ft pricing so you need that "have to have" appeal to purchasers to make it work. Icon made it work perfectly despite the final product but the market was different when they were selling units. Not a lot of new condos going up in the city these days. Only the ones already committed to the sales from what I see.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by ServiceGuy

No. Process isn't far enough along to put shovels in the ground plus the condo market has completely out priced itself. No one would build a 60 story rental building. From a builder's standpoint, once you are above 30 stories you are adding costs not profits based on sq/ft pricing so you need that "have to have" appeal to purchasers to make it work. Icon made it work perfectly despite the final product but the market was different when they were selling units. Not a lot of new condos going up in the city these days. Only the ones already committed to the sales from what I see.

Trinity is planning to break ground on 50-65 story to rental towers imminently, why couldn't Claridge? Besides, this building isn't going to be 60 habitable floors, the podium is above ground parking because of the bedrock, which will also save cost.

Edit: Claridge's 60 story tower isn't approved yet anyways, so it's definitely not breaking ground very soon

[SL123]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Trinity is planning to break ground on 50-65 story to rental towers imminently....

I'm intrigued!! Are you sure its actually happening? you've got insider knowledge ahaha??

[J.OT13]

Been "imminent" for 5 years now. I don't think we'll ever see it happen.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Been "imminent" for 5 years now. I don't think we'll ever see it happen.

The last word we had was an article this past winter saying it's still a go and will launch this year, with some changes based on the market. I am still pretty confident the ground will break once the transit station is near completion.

[ServiceGuy]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Trinity is planning to break ground on 50-65 story to rental towers imminently, why couldn't Claridge? Besides, this building isn't going to be 60 habitable floors, the podium is above ground parking because of the bedrock, which will also save cost.

Edit: Claridge's 60 story tower isn't approved yet anyways, so it's definitely not breaking ground very soon

How many years has it now been since Trinity was immanently going to break ground? Since then, the market has completely changed along with the whole Lebreton Flats plans being rehashed multiple times now. As rentals, 3 - 20 story versus a single 60+ story is way more financially viable given the build costs involved and especially if the mechanical can be shared across the three buildings. The game changes once you have a building a mobile crane can't reach the top of. I just think folks are over optimistic on either Trinity or Claridge putting up a tall tower unless the condo market goes nuts again. Remember when buyers used to line up on opening day of sales? If that happens again Ottawa will see a tall tower.

[Harley613]

I disagree with your entire analysis. The Ford Government removing rental control changed the whole market and makes rental projects of this scale viable. The developers are giving themselves blank cheques, rent low at first, then jack it as high as they can while still keeping tenants.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I disagree with your entire analysis. The Ford Government removing rental control changed the whole market and makes rental projects of this scale viable. The developers are giving themselves blank cheques, rent low at first, then jack it as high as they can while still keeping tenants.

Rent control or not, there are very few places with 60 story rental buildings and most of them have significantly higher rents than Ottawa and neither Trinity nor its partners have any sort of track record with this kind of project. I have thought for years this was vapourware and nothing has changed my mind.

[Marshsparrow]

And then they wonder why no one wants to spend time downtown - so uninspiring... we really mess up every opportunity to do something nice.