NRCan Booth Street Complex Redevelopment | Approved

[citydwlr]

July 11, 2022 Update (via eNewsletter):

Booth Street Update

Canada Lands Company’s Booth Street campus is located 15 minutes southwest of Parliament Hill in the area of Norman and Rochester streets and Orangeville and Booth Streets.

In 2019, the City of Ottawa unanimously approved Canada Lands’ official plan, secondary plan and zoning by-law for the property. The development concept envisions a vibrant mixed-use community hub that carries forward the site’s historic significance and prioritizes walkability and sustainability.

A summary of the materials that were presented throughout the engagement process for the Booth Street site is available here and specific information about the park here.

From now until July 22, 2022, the City of Ottawa is seeking general feedback from the community about the playground options for the park site which is located at the corner of Rochester and Norman Streets. Here is link to the city’s web page https://engage.ottawa.ca/norman-rochester-park.

Canada Lands will be responsible for constructing the park before it is conveyed to the city. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2023.

We encourage to provide your feedback and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thank you!

[J.OT13]

Cross Post.

Le fédéral convertira certaines de ses propriétés en logements

Par Antoine Trépanier, Le Droit
7 novembre 2023

Le gouvernement fédéral a annoncé mardi qu’il débloque six de ses propriétés pour permettre la construction de 2800 nouveaux logements, dont plus de la moitié à Ottawa.

Les propriétés, que le fédéral qualifie d’«excédentaires», sont à Calgary, à Edmonton, à Saint-Jean (Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador) et à Ottawa.

«C’est un morceau et c’est un morceau qui ne coûte rien au gouvernement», a relevé le ministre des Services publics et de l’Approvisionnement, Jean-Yves Duclos.

D’ici mars 2024, la Société immobilière du Canada fournira les propriétés pour que 307 logements soient construits au Village des Riverains, 600 à l’avenue Carling et 710 sur la rue Booth à Ottawa. On compterait 221 logements abordables dans ce lot.

«Nous accélérons et simplifions le processus de conversion des propriétés fédérales excédentaires en habitations, et nous continuons de travailler avec la Société immobilière du Canada pour permettre la construction de logements supplémentaires», a poursuivi le ministre Duclos.

10 000 personnes

Qui plus est, la Société immobilière du Canada établit désormais à 20% le minimum de logements abordables pour l’ensemble des projets en cours de réalisation. Cette nouvelle exigence s’appliquera lorsque l’exigence municipale minimale en matière de logement abordable est inférieure ou n’existe pas encore, selon le fédéral.

5300 unités

En ajoutant 5300 unités dans les cinq prochaines années, Ottawa double le nombre de logements abordables offerts par la Société immobilière du Canada dans les 30 dernières années.

Au total, ce seront 26 000 unités qui seront débloquées par Ottawa, comparativement aux 10 300 au cours des sept dernières années.

C’est qu’en étant le plus important propriétaire foncier au pays avec environ 32 000 propriétés au pays, le gouvernement du Canada a sous la main des actifs significatifs pour contrer la pénurie de logements. Depuis plusieurs mois, les fonctionnaires fédéraux ont adopté un mode de travail hybride où ils n’ont pas à fréquenter leur bureau tous les jours. Les aires de travail partagées font en sorte que d’importantes superficies sont libérées dans les édifices de la Couronne.

Il semblerait que la Société immobilière du Canada dispose sur une vingtaine de propriétés «en stock» qui sont prêtes à être converties dans les prochaines années.

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/polit...en-logements-PYPU2TIEFFASPC4ASHZSXZH3YY/

[Marcus CLS]

This sounds like your typical reannouncment of an announcement. I am not good at cutting and pasting on a mobile, so my apologies for that but I also read the CTV article and the Citizen article. Either the official news release is vague and confusing or the reporting is confusing. In regards to the units announced the words, spring, built and March 2024 were used. I find this highly ambitious. Having perused the Canada Lands Company website more then once regarding their process I interpret that the various lands are now released for the tender for sale and bid process. In the case of Wateridge village additional lands are being released. The bid and sale process is what I believe will be completed by March 2024. Once the land sales are final then the proponents will start the site plan control process. The site plan control process can take 2 years or more. Unless the city agrees to fast track with the proponents due to the Canada Lands Company connection I find it hard to believe shovels will hit the ground soon or that tender bid sale and site plan control will be complete by March 2024.

[J.OT13]

I imagine it's the reporting that's off. Some news outlets suggested actual office buildings were involved, which isn't really the case. Sure the Booth complex has some buildings, mostly labs and such, involved, but this isn't office towers and complexes that are being dumped due to the pandemic as suggested on the news.

[Spoonsy]

this is the actual press release: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services...algary-edmonton-st-johns-and-ottawa.html

Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, and the Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board, announced that 6 surplus federal properties will be developed into more than 2,800 new homes in Calgary, Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta and St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ottawa, Ontario.

By March 2024, Canada Lands Company—a Crown corporation that will have enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016—will help deliver the following surplus federal properties to build more homes for Canadians:

Calgary: 516 homes at Currie
Edmonton: 711 homes, at the Village at Griesbach, including 93 affordable homes
St. John’s: 34 homes at Pleasantville
Ottawa: 307 homes at Wateridge Village, 600 homes at Carling Avenue, and 710 homes on Booth Street, including 221 affordable homes

With today’s announcement, Canada Lands Company is now on track to support the construction of more than 29,200 new homes over the next 6 years.

To realize more affordable housing, Canada Lands Company is announcing a new minimum affordable housing target of 20% across projects in its pipeline. The new affordability requirement would apply where a municipal minimum requirement for affordable housing is lower or does not already exist.

As work continues to identify further assets that can be repurposed for housing, the federal government intends to introduce further measures to speed up this process and to identify more opportunities to build more housing. The federal government will continue working with provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments to build more homes, faster, to make housing more affordable for Canadians and ensure everyone, including the most vulnerable, can find a safe and affordable place to call home.

"By March 2024, Canada Lands Company—a Crown corporation that will have enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016—will help deliver the following surplus federal properties to build more homes for Canadians"
- This is just a general government backpatting about CLC's impact to date, I don't interpret it as directly related to these "new" property announcements.

However Le Droit tied that line directly to those 6 properties:
"D’ici mars 2024, la Société immobilière du Canada fournira les propriétés pour que 307 logements soient construits au Village des Riverains, 600 à l’avenue Carling et 710 sur la rue Booth à Ottawa. On compterait 221 logements abordables dans ce lot."

The press release headline says "On track to build nearly 30,000 new homes on surplus federal lands by 2029". Again, this reads to me as an overall statement and no guarantee that any of the properties in Ottawa specifically would be built by 2029

IMO there's basically nothing of value that we can reliably glean from this press release

[rocketphish]

Budget opens door to faster housing development in Ottawa, Canada Lands boss says

David Sali, OBJ
April 24, 2024 2:23 PM ET

The head of a Crown corporation that buys and develops federal properties says he’s hoping to speed up projects such as converting empty government office buildings into apartments in a bid to boost Ottawa’s housing stock.

Canada Lands Company president and CEO Stéphan Déry told a city-building summit organized by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade this week his organization is working with developers on a number of projects that will eventually provide thousands of new housing units in the National Capital Region.

“We want to contribute,” Déry said during a panel discussion Tuesday at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building. “We’re all about building mixed-use communities.”

He said the recent federal budget has given Canada Lands new tools to help speed the development process along.

They include $5 million in new funding targeted for measures such as providing low-cost leases to builders, putting housing on underused federal properties, and working with other Crown corporations to redevelop surplus buildings.

In addition, while the federal government previously sold properties to Canada Lands at market rates, it will now look to transfer land to the company for $1 whenever possible to help spur affordable housing projects.

<snip>

However, Déry acknowledged that market headwinds have thrown a wrench in some of the corporation’s other plans for local properties.

For example, he told the crowd a deal to sell a 6.5-acre site on Booth Street to a developer fell through earlier this year.

The property, which was once home to the Mines and Resources Branch of Natural Resources Canada, is a “complex site” that includes several buildings on the City of Ottawa’s designated heritage list, Déry explained.

“The market is not the market that we knew before the pandemic,” he said. “When you go to market with that (type of site) and you approach a developer, they think twice.”

<snip>

https://obj.ca/budget-opens-door-to-faster-housing-development-in-ottawa-canada-lands-boss-says/

[citydwlr]

From Canada Lands Company newsletter:

Enabling new housing at Booth Street

Following the announcement of Budget 2024, Canada Lands Company (CLC) is making progress towards addressing the ongoing housing crisis. On August 25, 2024, the federal government launched the Public Land Bank mapping tool that helps the public and builders easily identify available public land across Canada to expedite new housing. Canada Lands Company has presently listed eight of its properties in the Public Land Bank including the 552 Booth Street parcel.

To learn more, visit our Booth Street property page, and visit the Public Land Bank mapping tool. We look forward to keeping you informed on our progress as we continue efforts to making a measurable difference in the supply of housing in the communities that we are developing.

[BanjoUnchained]

Ottawa's 6.5-acre Booth Street development site for sale
Canada Lands Corp. engages CBRE to market the site, located between downtown and popular Dow's Lake recreation area

Steve McLean
Business Writer

CBRE is marketing a long-coveted Ottawa development opportunity to create a new community at a 6.5-acre site owned by Canada Lands Company (CLC) known as the Booth Street Complex.

CLC, which declined RENX’s interview request because it is a Crown corporation and the country is now in a federal election campaign, acquired the site for its assessed market value in 2015 from Natural Resources Canada.

CBRE senior vice-president Jamie Boyce told RENX that CLC has “added significant value to the site” through its efforts in putting together a master plan, obtaining mixed-use zoning approval and remediating the property.

“CLC believes the time is right to sell the property,” Boyce said, noting it has received “positive interest” from local and national developers and there has been “good momentum” since CBRE started marketing it on March 7.

CLC specializes in real estate and development as well as attractions management. It reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Public Services and Procurement.

Heritage buildings will be part of redevelopment
The property has seven vacant buildings that range in height from two to four storeys. Five of them have a City of Ottawa heritage designation due to their architectural style and significance to the historical development of Canada’s mining and energy industries. A former central heating plant, which includes a smokestack, is considered a community landmark.

The redevelopment is the largest heritage designation project in CLC’s history.

The City of Ottawa unanimously approved CLC’s official plan, secondary plan and zoning bylaw for the property in 2019. That includes a commitment to include 10 per cent affordable housing in any future development.

The development concept envisions a mixed-use community with approximately a million square feet of density, including approximately 1,000 housing units, commercial space at grade and the repurposing of the more than 140,000 square feet in the retained heritage structures. Buildings are projected to range from four to 25 storeys.

The site will also include the half-acre Norman Rochester Park, which will be a valuable addition to the gentrifying neighbourhood. The proposed public park's amenities include a water play feature, a playground area, a basketball key, a shade shelter, a public gathering area, furniture, landscaping, trees and pathways.

CLC has prepared the property for redevelopment through the completion of hazardous material abatement of all the buildings, deconstruction of three buildings and sub-surface environmental remediation.

Desirable location in a growing area
The site occupies an entire city block bordered by Orangeville, Rochester, Booth and Norman streets in Ottawa’s growing Little Italy neighbourhood, not far from the Dow’s Lake recreation and tourist area -- one of the city's most popular destinations.

Little Italy has been the site of significant residential construction in recent years, including the city's tallest residential highrise, the 45-storey Claridge Icon which overlooks Dow's Lake. Additional densification is continuing in the area.

The Booth Street property is located within a couple of minutes of driving distance of the central business district and Parliament Hill. It offers easy access to shopping, dining and lifestyle options, and is 600 metres from the future Ottawa Civic Hospital campus.

The location is also: connected to pedestrian and cycling paths; convenient for public transit, including the light rail transit system about two blocks away; and offers close proximity to Highway 417.

Ottawa’s population is growing and the nation’s capital is now home to over a million people. The Booth Street site redevelopment will be a significant addition to the 25 currently active residential projects in the city, which represent about 5,000 housing units of various types.

Offers for what Boyce called the “fantastic site” are being accepted until April 14.

https://renx.ca/canada-lands-selling-heritage-development-site-in-ottawa

[Marcus CLS]

Deleted this post. I did not post the original comment. Possible hack.

[rocketphish]

I think that the parcels offered for sale are aimed at condo builders, while the parcels offered for long-term lease are aimed at affordable housing builders (who tend to be cash-strapped non-profits).

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Marcus CLS

This is good news in the sense that it is being marketed for sale. I believe marketing for lease is less attractive for potential builders and reeks of government control. I predict those lands in the land bank offered for sale will move faster towards redevelopment then those offered as long term leases. Just my opinion.

Not sure why it would be less attractive or indicate government control. It doesn't seem to hurt London, UK.

[rocketphish]

The Turn Group, who have just announced a proposal for 299 Carling Ave, are also touting an Ottawa acquisition on Booth St for a million sq ft mixed-use development. Hmmm... a CLC BOGO sale?

https://turngroup.ca/portfolio/ (select Ottawa)

[J.OT13]

Two major projects from the same developer a few blocks apart. I hope we see at least one of them with shovels in the ground within a couple years.