The Met [180 Metcalfe St] | 84.5m | 28f | U/C

[Harley613]

I hope the added cost of preserving the heritage facade doesn't dissuade Toth from building a 27 story building at this site. What Centretown (and downtown for that matter) needs is more 27 story condominiums. 27 is such a nice number...doesn't kill any children, and doesn't offend too many NIMBY's. The shadows are less deadly at that height. The skyline is less ostentatious at that height. All is well with a city that builds at a uniform height.

[Urbanarchit]

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[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I hope the added cost of preserving the heritage facade doesn't dissuade Toth from building a 27 story building at this site. What Centretown (and downtown for that matter) needs is more 27 story condominiums. 27 is such a nice number...doesn't kill any children, and doesn't offend too many NIMBY's. The shadows are less deadly at that height. The skyline is less ostentatious at that height. All is well with a city that builds at a uniform height.

I'm quite sure they knew this building was slated for heritage status.

[Urbanarchit]

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[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by defishel

It already had it I thought. There's been a plaque on it for a long time.

There has been plaque on my teeth for a long time too... apperently not a sign of heritage designation.

[McC]

zing!

[Urbanarchit]

*

[Arcologist]

I love any building that can incorporate a heritage building and does it well. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.

Too bad it didn't keep the entire Medical Arts building, and too bad it didn't take a cue from that building in its own architecture.

I love how they capped it off at 27 stories with a flat roof though! Just like every other building in the core! blahhh....

[Temperance]

Pretty terrible building - both architecturally and in terms of the destruction of heritage.

[rocketphish]

27-storey building proposed for Medical Arts building on Metcalfe Street
Six-storey building at 180 Metcalfe St. could see new secondary plan

CBC News Posted: Jun 16, 2015 6:41 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 16, 2015 8:27 PM ET

Ottawa city planners are recommending the approval of a proposed 27-storey building at Metcalfe and Nepean streets in Centretown.

A report, tabled Tuesday, calls for the city to change its secondary plan to allow a hotel above the second floor of the Medical Arts building at 180 Metcalfe.

The applicant, urban planning consulting firm FoTenn Consultants, wants to build a 21-storey tower to sit atop the existing six-storey building and is asking the city to amend the zoning and adjust the Centretown Secondary Plan to allow a hotel on the first six storeys.

In a comment appended to the report, Somerset councillor Catherine McKenney said the hotel use was inappropriate for the site.

She also said the secondary plan for Centretown was only finalized three years ago, and shouldn't be changed so soon.

"Amending the Secondary Plan so soon after it has been finalized — and on the heels of an OMB appeal — completely undermines its purpose and the long hours of hard work put in by residents," she wrote.

The report will be discussed at planning committee on June 23.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...reet-1.3116313

[rocketphish]

27-storey tower at heritage Medical Arts Building moves closer to approval

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: June 23, 2015 | Last Updated: June 23, 2015 5:15 PM EDT



The City of Ottawa’s planning committee has given its blessing to a rezoning that will allow the redevelopment of the 87-year-old Art Deco-style Medical Arts Building on Metcalfe Street.

The rezoning, if approved by council next month, paves the way for a 27-floor tower on the site that will incorporate the existing heritage building into a mixed-use structure that will also include a six-storey boutique hotel.

City planners backed the proposal and consider the hotel rooms as “quasi-residential” use, with overnight guests who will visit local businesses as opposed to commercial or office spaces, which are empty in the evenings.

The 8-2 vote came over objections from several councillors that the development is counter to the newly minted Community Design Plan for Centretown. That plan, completed in 2012 and approved by the province earlier this year, does not allow for commercial use, such as hotel rooms, above the first two floors.

“To say we have a newly minted plan and one of the uses that was explicitly not put in there is now OK, it compromises it,” said Somerset Ward Coun. Catherine McKenney, who spoke against the rezoning but does not sit on the planning committee and had no vote.

“We’ve heard over and over that we want people to engage so they feel part of the process,” she said, adding that some residents spent years helping form the design plan. “We should let the community know that these are not ‘community design plans,’ they’re ‘community design guidelines’ and we’re not likely to be following them.”

Alta Vista Coun. Jean Cloutier and Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper — both committee members — voted against the rezoning.

“I think it’s a great fit,” Harder said. “Look at the Tribeca right across the street. You’ve got the Sobey’s. It’s very trendy … It would be an awesome place to go. It fits the height (limitations) and I think it fits the spirit.”

The committee did recommend that the Medical Arts Building be given heritage status. The structure was designed by Ottawa architect W.E. Noffke, the same man responsible for the Champagne Bath and Central Post Office buildings, and built in 1928. Heritage planners say the building’s symmetrical facade, copper panels and geometric patterned brick panels help make it a rare example of the Art Deco style popularized in the 1920s and 1930s.

bcrawford@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/getBAC

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...er-to-approval

[rocketphish]

Medical Arts project undermining new Centretown plan: councillor
Boutique hotel, condo approved for downtown heritage building

By Emma Jackson
Ottawa East News, Jun 27, 2015

Property rights are messing with the Centretown secondary plan before its ink is even dry, according to Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney.

The downtown councillor said a proposed amendment to allow a six-storey hotel at 180 Metcalfe St. – in an area where only two floors of shops is allowed – is a slap in the face to the residents who worked so hard to develop Centretown’s community design plan and secondary plan over the past five years – especially since the CDP only got final approval from the Ontario Municipal Board this spring.

“This is the first test of the community design plan, and this goes completely against what’s in that area,” McKenney said.

The building is located in the plan’s northern character area, which is restricted to residential uses.

“We are on the road to compromising a newly-minted CDP. It will slowly become indefensible,” she said.

Her comments didn’t stop the city’s planning committee from approving the amendments on June 23, although they still have to pass muster at council on July 8.

The project, owned by Toth Equity Ltd., will designate the 1920s art deco Medical Arts Building at the corner of Metcalfe and Nepean streets under the Ontario Heritage Act, while attaching a six-storey addition where the current parking lot exists. The developer will also build a 21-storey condo tower above, with a parking garage underground.

The secondary plan allows for 27 storeys in that part of town – residents don’t seem to have a problem with that – but it also says the area should be strictly residential, with only local shops allowed on the first two floors of any building.

The proposed amendment would allow a boutique hotel to operate on six storeys instead.

Despite the discrepancy, city planners said the proposed development actually strikes a good balance between honouring the property’s existing zoning and upholding the spirit of the neighbourhood’s plans. Planning manager Michael Mizzi even argued it will take the community further towards realizing its residential vision for the area.

“We’re actually moving closer to the goals of having less commercial,” he told the committee.

That’s because the property’s current zoning allows up to 12 storeys for office or medical space, and the property owner’s rights to the current zoning trump everything – even the city’s Official Plan.

“We have to take the current zoning into account,” said development review manager Don Herweyer. “(The secondary plan) can’t be viewed as something that can never be amended. No amendment would allow that 12-storey commercial building to exist.”

To avoid that situation, staff worked with owner John Toth and his architects to convince them to go with six “quasi-residential” commercial floors instead, and give up their rights to 12 storeys.

“We worked very hard to get to where we are,” said Toth. “We thought we had everyone’s approval, something that is practical, good for the downtown and good for the community. We certainly think it is.”

The hotel plan is a better alternative than having 12 storeys of doctor’s offices where people will be coming and going all day, Mizzi said.

And a staff report said the project also fits a number of the community design plan’s priorities, like protecting heritage, intensifying residential uses and reducing traffic. Mizzi said many hotel users don’t bring their cars, or they use other modes of transit to get around once they’re here.

McKenney said she plans to lobby her fellow councillors to stop the proposal on July 8.

And if that doesn’t work, McKenney said the community design plan process should change its name.

“We should call them community design guidelines and let the community know that when we’re asking them to come out and give up hours of their time, these are guidelines and we’re not likely to be following them,” McKenney said.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...an-councillor/

[rocketphish]

Medical Arts project back to the drawing board
Councillor defers decision until August

By Emma Jackson
Ottawa East News, July 9, 2015

A controversial downtown development is going under the knife one more time before council has to make a final decision this August.

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney asked her colleagues to defer the decision on a hotel project at 180 Metcalfe St. to give her time to better fit it into the Centretown community design plan.

“We need to sit back down with the applicant,” said McKenney. “Whenever an applicant works with the community on an application, nine times out of 10 we’re going to be able to agree on something that is reasonable for everyone.”

The project is controversial because it would require an amendment the neighbourhood’s development blueprint – a document that’s only six weeks off the presses. It labels the northern part of Centretown as residential in nature; development can go as high as 27 storeys, but it’s supposed to add residential density, not commercial space.

The project, owned by Toth Equity Ltd., wants an exception to allow a six-storey commercial hotel inside the heritage Medical Arts facility, while attaching a six-storey addition where the current parking lot exists. The developer would also build a 21-storey condo tower above, with a parking garage underground.

Residents don’t seem to have a problem with the height – but the plan also says the area should be strictly residential, with only local shops allowed on the first two floors of any building.


QUASI-RESIDENTIAL

Despite the discrepancy, city planners said the proposed development actually strikes a good balance between honouring the property’s existing zoning and upholding the spirit of the neighbourhood’s plans, because it actually compromises the property’s current zoning that allows up to 12 storeys of office or medical space.

The change to a “quasi-residential” use of only six storeys instead of 12 is actually closer to the CDP’s direction, planning manager Michael Mizzi argued at a committee meeting on June 23.

But community leaders disagreed, coming out to speak against the amendment and argue that commercial use is commercial use, no matter the type of business.

McKenney said such an amendment so early in the CDP’s life undermines the community’s strenuous process to develop it.

“If we’re going to have CDPs, if we’re going to put the effort into them … then we have to know that we’re going to adhere to them,” she said. “It doesn’t mean there is no room for flexibility, but there is a difference between being flexible and completely undermining a secondary plan or CDP.”

Planning committee approved the application on June 23, but with the support of committee chairwoman Coun. Jan Harder, McKenney pushed council’s final decision to Aug. 26.

McKenney hopes a meeting with the applicant and community leaders this summer can tweak the development enough to make it more palatable for local residents, or at least provide some sort of community benefit to make up for the change.

“I would imagine now that we have full council agreeing to a deferral, it’s a signal that council wants to see the applicant sitting down with the community, with me, with the planning chair,” McKenney said.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...drawing-board/

[J.OT13]

All this over 6 floors of hotel rooms. 6 out of 27. What is wrong with this City!? There would be no noticeable difference between a fully residential building or mixed hotel/condo. What is the damn controversy?

[ServiceGuy]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

All this over 6 floors of hotel rooms. 6 out of 27. What is wrong with this City!? There would be no noticeable difference between a fully residential building or mixed hotel/condo. What is the damn controversy?

I have to agree and especially given the Red Cross, Place Bell, and Sobeys are all directly across the street. What the heck is the difference with a new hotel? Medical building is already commercial space.

[waterloowarrior]

Rejected by City Council on a tie vote

edit: now being deferred

[McC]

instant reactions from Councillors Harder and McKenny:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...vote-1.3204476

[rocketphish]

Council split on "certainty" of community design plans, defers 180 Metcalfe decision

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: August 26, 2015 | Last Updated: August 26, 2015 5:19 PM EDT



A split vote Wednesday on a proposal to build a 27-storey tower on Metcalfe Street has revealed a divide on city council over the weight of neighbourhood development plans.

For years, the documents known formally as community design plans — or CDPs — have been used to fine-tune high-level city planning documents for specific communities. CDPs are supposed to give residents a reliable sense of what they might expect to see built in their neighbourhood.

But these neighbourhood planning blueprints, according to planning committee chairwoman Jan Harder, should not be misconstrued as the be-all and end-all.

“A CDP does not give certainty,” she told reporters after the meeting. “A CDP does not out trump official plans, secondary plans, zoning that’s in place, it doesn’t, it’s more of a clarifying document of what people want.”

“Certainty doesn’t mean certainty.”

It’s a semantic distinction that seems to suggest that the plans — reached after months of work on the part of engaged community volunteers, business owners, planning department staff and developers — are important, but can, at times, be overruled.

That’s what occurred with another planning proposal that was up for a vote at the same council meeting on Wednesday. Council approved a 14-storey tower on Rideau Street despite concerns such an approval ignores the established plan for that area, as well as the new Uptown Rideau CDP, which should be finished this fall.

The Rideau-area plan calls for a height limit of just six storeys on the south side of Rideau between Chapel Street and the Rideau River, though a decade-old Ontario Municipal Board decision ruled nine storeys was OK for 560 Rideau.

Richcraft Homes wants to construct buildings of seven and 14 storeys at 538, 544 and 560 Rideau St., as well as a 3 1/2-storey low-rise apartment at 501 Besserer St., which is a slim parcel of land connected to the Rideau Street property.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury dissented on the vote and told council he hopes outstanding community concerns can be addressed during the site plan approval process.

As for Metcalfe Street, council was considering a developer’s plan to rezone an 87-year-old Art Deco-style Medical Arts Building. The rezoning application, approved by the planning committee in June, paves the way for a 27-storey tower on the site that will incorporate the existing heritage building at 180 Metcalfe St. into a complex that will also include a six-storey boutique hotel.

But the plan doesn’t sit well with Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney and several of her colleagues because it runs counter to the newly-minted CDP for Centretown. Completed in 2012 and approved by the province earlier this year, the plan does not allow for commercial use, such as hotel rooms, above the first two floors.

Council was to vote on the application at its July 8 meeting, but instead deferred the decision until Wednesday to give McKenney, Harder and city staff time to revisit the plan with the developer.

McKenney hopes to meet with the developer, Toth Equity, in the coming days to come up with something more in line with the CDP. “We all understand they’re not written in stone, nothing is that clear, but at the same time, it’s the first real test of this CDP and to agree to that mass of hotel use is wrong. It’s a violation of the CDP,” she said.

She’d like to see the developer come forward with a proposal that includes a community benefit, such as green space, or a reduced commercial use.

Harder, who said she met with the developer and planning staff over the summer, said she was shocked by the 11-11 tie vote, especially because two members of the planning committee — Riley Brockington and Rick Chiarelli — voted against the application on Wednesday after having supported it at committee.

“This should not have happened the way it did today,” Harder said.

The motion before council on Wednesday resulted in an 11-11 tie, which means the recommendation to approve the proposal was defeated. However, council agreed to another two-week deferral in hopes of seeing whether a compromise can be reached before making a final decision on Sept. 9.

mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...n-180-metcalfe

[citydwlr]

Council met this morning and apparently approved the proposal after all...

(via Twitter)

Today, Council approved a 27-storey mixed-use proposal for 180 Metcalfe, which incorporates the Medical Arts Bldg.

[SOURCE]

At council today: 180 Metcalfe devt will now offer $200,000 green space money in exchange for boutique hotel approval. #ottcity #ottnews

[SOURCE]

That 180 Metcalfe deal carries. Developer will need to pay city $200K if it wants a hotel in the redevelopment. #ottpoli

[SOURCE]

[rocketphish]

Developer agrees to pay $200,000 to add hotel to Metcalfe Street tower

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 9, 2015 | Last Updated: September 9, 2015 4:46 PM EDT

A developer has agreed to pay $200,000 for “community benefits” if it includes a boutique hotel inside a new 27-storey tower to be built on Metcalfe Street.

Toth Equity’s application to rezone the Art Deco-style Medical Arts Building at 180 Metcalfe was approved by the planning committee in June. But council deferred a final decision twice this summer to give Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney time to meet with the applicant in hopes of coming up with a redevelopment more in line with the neighbourhood plan for Centretown.

Completed in 2012 and approved by the province earlier this year, the plan does not allow for commercial use, such as hotel rooms, above the first two floors. Because the developer’s plan called for a six-storey boutique hotel as part of the primarily residential tower, McKenney wanted some sort of community benefit in exchange.

Now, after negotiations involving the developer and planning committee chairwoman Jan Harder, Toth has agreed to give the city $200,000, which will be put toward “green space and recreational opportunities” in Centretown, if it goes ahead with the hotel.

The developer won’t hand over the money, however, should it abandon plans for the hotel.

mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...e-street-tower