Story of Rideau & Chapel [151+153 Chapel St] | 78+84m | 25+26f | U/C

[Harley613]

There seems to be a lot of activity going on for a project that hadn't even been approved...

[Urbanarchit]

*

[BlueJay]

Demo Permit has been approved and issued.

[waterloowarrior]

Hearing is March 2016
http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/e-decisions/pl150320-Aug-17-2015.pdf

[Urbanarchit]

Updated images. I actually kind of like the backside. Other than the loading bays I kind of wish the backside was on Rideau instead.

Looks like they're proposing a dollarstore underground, a liquor store at grade, a grocery store and 10,000 sqft of unspecified retail space on the second floor.

Looks like they want parking 2 stories or so above grade in the middle, with residential at the back. I felt they were providing too much parking for this location and reopening Chapel would be irresponsible, but they should keep parking underground and reserve that space for more retail instead.

Some elitists might thumb their nose at the dollar store, but my preference is that they leave the ground floor for multiple smaller businesses and leave the larger stores to the second or underground levels instead.

[movebyleap]

Not bad at all. My only wish would be for the heights to be something other than the 26-28 floor range that seems to be prevailing on Rideau.

[rocketphish]

An 18,000sf Liquor Store only 3 blocks from the LCBO at Rideau & King Edward? I wonder if this is a relocation of that store in preparation for the redevelopment of the other site?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

An 18,000sf Liquor Store only 3 blocks from the LCBO at Rideau & King Edward? I wonder if this is a relocation of that store in preparation for the redevelopment of the other site?

The store at King Edward was never intended to be permanent - the site is ripe for redevelopment.

[rocketphish]

City won’t apologize for allowing tree cutting at Chapel Street site
Proposed development has not been approved by city

By Alex Robinson
Ottawa East News, Oct 08, 2015

Residents are outraged that a developer has cut down more than 40 trees on a Rideau Street property before its proposed development for the site has been approved.

Sandy Hill resident Susan Young first noticed the trees were being cut down on Sept. 18. She contacted the city to try to get the cutting to stop, but by the end of the week, they had all been cut down.

“Let’s not cut down our own trees until we really have to,” said Young, who leads the Sandy Hill Tree Group.

Trinity Development Group owns the site, at 151 and 153 Chapel St., and is proposing to build a mixed-use complex, with two highrise residential towers that would be 26 and 28 storeys. The developer has taken the city the Ontario Municipal Board over the application as city staff did not respond to the proposal within the mandated deadline.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said Trinity did acquire the necessary permits to cut down the trees, but the city was not supposed to have granted them at this point in the process.

“I’m making sure this doesn’t happen again,” Fleury said.

“We don’t want trees cut. We just launched an urban forestry master plan and review that we’re conducting to save city trees. Unless someone has a reason to cut or a plan to replant, we don’t let people just cut trees down.”

Fleury said city staff made a mistake in issuing the permits, as developers do not typically receive approval to take down trees on properties until the site plan has passed through city council.

The city refused to apologize for approving the tree cutting, but did retrieve $11,924 in compensation from the developer to plant new ones.

“Generally, site plan control is granted prior to tree removal, but not in all cases,” Erin O’Connell, the planner working on the application, said in an emailed statement.

“Trinity did receive the appropriate approvals with the demolition permit to remove these trees.”

O’Connell said forestry services did an analysis of the trees on site and found many were Siberian elm trees, which are considered an invasive species.

Young said losing the trees is a big loss to the community as they provide a wind barrier on Rideau Street and play an aesthetic role in the streetscape. She added there could be perfectly good reasons to cut the trees down, but if construction was not imminent, the community could benefited from them in the meantime.

“Construction could be years away,” she said.

“There is certainly no building permit in hand. What is the hurry to cut these trees down?”

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...wing-tree-cutting-at-chapel-street-site/

[Arcologist]

I really really really hope they don't cheap out on materials here, or these will be awful looking...

[Arcologist]

Funny how two hot air balloons in a rendering can really decrease the tunnel effect (1st render.)

I wish the tower was setback a bit from Chapel, perhaps more centered on its podium?

[cpa4s]

just hope they bring some decent restaurants to this end of downtown.

[teej1984]

Hey! There are some excellent shawarma and Ethiopian restos

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by teej1984

Hey! There are some excellent shawarma and Ethiopian restos

Nice! I have always wanted to try Shawarma, but I didn't know there were any Shawarma places in Ottawa!

[Boxster]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

An 18,000sf Liquor Store only 3 blocks from the LCBO at Rideau & King Edward? I wonder if this is a relocation of that store in preparation for the redevelopment of the other site?

Was wondering the same thing?!

...and why a 10,000 sq ft dollar store?

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Boxster

Was wondering the same thing?!

...and why a 10,000 sq ft dollar store?

we all know this would be a relocation of the Dollarama near Rideau and Dalhousie, and some of these stores are getting as big as the grocery stores I remember from the 80's. The 18,000 sq. ft. liquor store is interesting.. I believe that's smaller than the current Rideau/King Edward store, and I had heard that store wasn't part of the Claridge development for the Metro site. The grocery store at 25,000 sq. ft. would be around the same size as the Metro..which it could be.. or it could be a Farm Boy (here's hoping!).

[Harley613]

I was also just thinking that this would be a pretty dramatic shift of major retail to the East side of King Edward. The only big draw in the area now is Loblaws, and the new Shopper's to a lesser extent. I guess this makes sense, the area was ripe for development but it was underserviced by utilities until the recent upgrade. Now that the construction is done, I suspect a lot of these proposals we've seen in the area will come to fruition since it's a no-brainer for densification (don't tell 'Action Sandy Hill' I said that, I don't want to get sniped while I'm sleeping).

[rocketphish]

Trinity scales back proposed Chapel Street towers again
Plan now fits within new CDP: Fleury

By Alex Robinson
Ottawa East News, Jan 08, 2016

A developer has scaled back the height of two proposed highrise towers in Lowertown for a second time.

Trinity Development Group has now applied to build two 25-storey residential towers as part of a mixed-use complex at 151 and 153 Chapel St., according to planning documents.

The developer originally applied to build the towers to 27 and 32 storeys on the site, but then reduced them last year to 26 and 28 storeys.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said the new plan conforms to the parameters laid out in the new Uptown Rideau Community Design Plan (CDP) – a planning document that was finalized this fall that recommends heights and densities developers should build to.

After Trinity filed last year’s application, Fleury asked the developer to wait to resubmit until after the CDP was finalized.

“They’ve always said they would respect the CDP requirements,” Fleury said.

Trinity’s plan includes building a small park on the corner of Chapel Street and Beausoleil Drive, as well as bike lanes along Chapel.

City council’s planning committee will consider the new application on Jan. 26. If the proposal is approved, it will have implications for an appeal that Trinity filed with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) over last year’s proposal.

On that application, city staff did not meet deadlines in its consideration, prompting Trinity to file its OMB challenge.

If city council approves the project, Fleury said it could settle the OMB appeal, which is scheduled to go to hearing on March 21.

The original proposal also met community opposition over the towers’ height, but the resubmission will likely alleviate those concerns.

Peter Ferguson, a co-chair of the Lowertown Community Association, said he is comforted by what he has seen in the revision, but the community association is still waiting to receive all updated planning documents.

“There is one remaining issue from building height, which is during winter months, there will be a shadow cast on Sainte Anne’s School,” he said.

“In an ideal world, you wouldn’t have that.” he said.

Ferguson said the community association also has concerns over Trinity’s plan to open up a cul-de-sac on Chapel Street to connect it to Beausoleil Drive. The community association, along with Action Sandy Hill, are worried that opening the cul-de-sac will invite a lot more commuting traffic to go through the neighbourhoods.

The issue of the cul-de-sac will be worked out during the site plan control process, which will come after city council votes on zoning amendments needed to build the complex.

Despite multiple requests, representatives for Trinity Development have refused to comment.

The developer expects the building will open in the spring of 2018, according to its website.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...ack-proposed-chapel-street-towers-again/

[Harley613]

In other news, pitchfork sales are down in Sandy Hill for reasons unknown, although retailers are not panicking just yet... they always go up again.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Harley613

In other news, pitchfork sales are down in Sandy Hill for reasons unknown, although retailers are not panicking just yet... they always go up again.