Building LeBreton Flats - Master Planning

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I attended the public event for the proposals at the War Museum way back when and was absolutely confident DCDLS was the clear winner. Frankly I found the Rendezvous proposal a snoozefest aside from the arena. The DCDLS proposal was visionary and felt like something you'd see in a new district in China these days. I really hope they find a way to work together and we don't get a condo wasteland.

Did you attend the same public session I did? The DCDLS presentation area and 3d mockup were literally made out of balsa wood and glue like a high school diorama project. The Rendezvous proposal at least looked like they put some effort into their presentation. Not saying that that necessarily is reflective of who should have won the RFP but it very much felt to me like Devcore phoned it in very badly at least insofar as that part was concerned.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

Did you attend the same public session I did? The DCDLS presentation area and 3d mockup were literally made out of balsa wood and glue like a high school diorama project. The Rendezvous proposal at least looked like they put some effort into their presentation. Not saying that that necessarily is reflective of who should have won the RFP but it very much felt to me like Devcore phoned it in very badly at least insofar as that part was concerned.

I was at the same event.

I wondered at the time whether Devcore had been planning something else originally and changed directions relatively late in the process. They were initially reported to be involved with Broccolini.

[rocketphish]

Forget about Toronto, Sidewalk Labs – build a smart neighbourhood in Ottawa instead
An urban affairs researcher makes the case for Sidewalk Labs and other smart city developers to turn their attention to LeBreton Flats

By: Patrick Gill, OBJ contributor
Published: Mar 19, 2019 2:44pm EDT

After failed attempts to develop LeBreton Flats, the National Capital Commission recently announced it was adopting a new approach for developing the 21-hectare property.

This reset is positive news because it gives Ottawa a rare opportunity to beat other North American cities, particularly Toronto and Montreal, in developing smart city infrastructure and sector expertise.

Smart cities use available and emerging technology to tackle their greatest policy and service challenges. With cities around the globe rapidly undertaking projects to become smarter, it’s unsurprising that U.K.-based ARUP Group estimates the annual marketplace for smart city solutions could hit as high as $1.8 trillion by 2020.

Ottawa is already a smart city, thanks to its strong history of innovation fuelled by a diverse ecosystem of tech firms and STEM talent. Becoming smarter and growing Ottawa’s density of tech companies are well-documented priorities for Ottawa city council.

That’s why LeBreton Flats should strategically be leveraged to attract North American tech firms to develop and showcase smart, inclusive and resilient communities for Ottawans to live in and for the world to notice.

As the NCC seeks new partners to develop LeBreton Flats, now in smaller stages, it should proactively engage developers who are smart city minded and willing to partner with tech firms to design and construct smart infrastructure and mixed-use developments. Finding such companies won’t be difficult.

Smart city developers and tech firms are fighting for the chance to build on small parcels of Toronto’s underdeveloped waterfront. Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of Google, has been given the first crack at a smart neighbourhood through a project known as Quayside. According to a recent Environics Research survey, 55 per cent of Toronto respondents supported this smart city project, and just 11 per cent opposed it.

The NCC should invite the many businesses sitting on Quayside’s sidelines to tour LeBreton Flats to see what an LRT-accessible, centrally located and council-supported project looks like. Moreover, the NCC should inform these businesses they could start developing a smart community in Ottawa today, rather than waiting years for a shot in Toronto. Even Sidewalk Labs should be invited to swing by for a look.

If the NCC and Ottawa council decide to foster smart development with the tech community in LeBreton Flats, it will require some additional work upfront to establish a robust policy for new data generated by smart city infrastructure. Then again, this is work the City of Ottawa needed to do at some point anyway.

Smart city infrastructure is coming. The question is whether Ottawa wants to lead the innovation and reap the ensuing rewards.

Patrick Gill is an urban affairs researcher and joint author of BiblioTech – a proposal for putting city libraries in charge of data generated by smart city infrastructure.

http://www.obj.ca/article/op-ed-forg...ottawa-instead

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

Did you attend the same public session I did? The DCDLS presentation area and 3d mockup were literally made out of balsa wood and glue like a high school diorama project. The Rendezvous proposal at least looked like they put some effort into their presentation. Not saying that that necessarily is reflective of who should have won the RFP but it very much felt to me like Devcore phoned it in very badly at least insofar as that part was concerned.

Well to each their own I guess. I found the Rendezvous proposal stiff, lazy and boring. It seemed so very 'safe' and Ottawa-like, whereas the DCDLS presentation seemed like some actual world class city building, backed by billionaires no less.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Well to each their own I guess. I found the Rendezvous proposal stiff, lazy and boring. It seemed so very 'safe' and Ottawa-like, whereas the DCDLS presentation seemed like some actual world class city building, backed by billionaires no less.

I don’t think “backed” is the right word. More like lazily endorsed.

[lrt's friend]

It is easy to identify fault with a plan that someone does not like. A condo heavy proposal is not going to be exciting.

It seems that Ottawans do not want to move beyond its boring reputation. It seems that Ottawans do not want to embrace something that has a bit of risk from a group that is backed by the country's most well known showman. Yet, we go with a safe proposal and it goes up in flames big time. The back up to this will almost certainly be an extension of what Claridge has done on Lebreton.

Is this really what we want?

[CityTech]

Nothing wrong with condos. People need places to live.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by CityTech

Nothing wrong with condos. People need places to live.

Of course you are right, but we need this to be more than a patch of condos. No matter what the plan, condos will be part of it. This is such an important location to be just condos and a few businesses to support them. I will be extremely disappointed if Lebreton turns out to be only that.

[daud]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I don’t think “backed” is the right word. More like lazily endorsed.

absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

[YOWflier]

^ Exactly.

I still maintain that DCDLS should have gotten the chance to negetotiate with the NCC. They could have tweaked their plan to make it more palatable (merge the best of both type of thing), and as a lesson learned for the NCC, been forced to provide evidence of financial viability.

Hitting a hard reset like this is ... typical.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by daud

absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Absence pretty much describes the role of the “backers”.

[acottawa]

The NCC requirements going back to 2014 stated

• A written statement outlining the proposed ownership structure (before, during and after development) delivery model (players, entities and legal interests), reversion terms, ongoing operations and maintenance, risk transfers, and the financial provisions, return and implications at each stage.

I don’t understand why either of the proposals were expected to substantiate whatever they submitted.

[rocketphish]

Public input will be key to developing LeBreton Flats

Tobi Nussbaum
Updated: March 16, 2019

The development potential of LeBreton Flats is undeniable. We have an unprecedented opportunity to create a dynamic, thriving, connected and sustainable new community, as well as a visionary destination in the heart of the nation’s capital — a chance to build something great, and to build it together.

As the National Capital Commission moves forward to build LeBreton, we also feel a responsibility to digest the lessons learned from previous efforts to develop the area. We will involve the public early on in the process. We will ensure structured timelines when negotiating with proponents. We will balance the need for an overarching vision and concept plan while still allowing for innovation and evolution as the site is built out. We want to achieve both a vibrant, mixed-use community as well as bold capital-building elements, not one to the exclusion of the other.

As we proceed, we will be guided by a number of key considerations.

First, the public must have a role from the start in shaping the concept plan that will serve as the vision for the development of the 56-acre site, beginning in June. It is the largest parcel of undeveloped lands remaining in the core of the capital, and all citizens have a stake — and thus should have a say — in its future. In addition to our ongoing consultations with the Algonquin Nation, we will also work closely with other stakeholders, such as the City of Ottawa, community groups, and builders and developers.

The resulting vision and concept plan will offer overarching guidance on a range of elements, from street layout and housing types to green space, public parks, amenities and attractions, while still allowing for ideas and input from the successful proponents responsible for building out the site.

Second, our request-for-proposal process needs to be flexible. Once the concept plan is approved by the NCC board and has obtained the necessary municipal approvals, the timing and approach to land disposition will need to respond to market conditions and attract wide interest from potential proponents. We have not yet determined the size or number of parcels of land in which the renewal of the Flats should be disposed. These decisions require input, and should not be taken before we have developed a widely consulted concept plan. Form needs to follow function.



Third, we know that the development will occur in phases. If the area were overlaid onto Ottawa’s existing downtown, it would span almost the equivalent of Laurier Avenue south to Somerset Street between the Rideau Canal and Metcalfe Street, an extensive area in which thousands of residents and office workers, pathways, parks, shops, schools, cultural attractions, public spaces and dozens of buildings come together. We know the full build-out of the site will take time. Given that the capital and urban context of LeBreton Flats is continually evolving, this phasing will create the flexibility required to ensure that future development can incorporate evolutions in technology, building methods, urban planning and market demand. Phasing the development will also allow us to remain open, should there be future interest in locating a major event centre such as an arena or other anchor use at LeBreton Flats.

The Library District is a good example of our approach. To ensure coordination with the construction timelines of the new City of Ottawa and Library and Archives Canada Central Public Library, our first disposition once the concept plan is approved will be a site east of Booth Street at the Pimisi light rail transit station. Through this process, we can help facilitate access between the LRT system and the library, and activate the area.

In announcing the initiation of this process last week, the NCC board of directors did so knowing that many elements of the project have yet to be defined. The board felt strongly that the project should evolve with the active participation and involvement of others. We are excited by — and committed to — this opportunity to create a visionary place for people that serves as a bold and enduring contribution to an even greater nation’s capital.

Tobi Nussbaum is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Capital Commission.

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/co...lebreton-flats

[rocketphish]

The NCC is thinking small on LeBreton Flats. That's a mistake

Mohammed Adam
Updated: March 21, 2019

In a recent opinion column in the Citizen, the chief executive of the National Capital Commission sought to bring reassurance and clarity of purpose to the troubled LeBreton Flats redevelopment.

The NCC’s attempt to reclaim the initiative after its piecemeal approach to the redevelopment in the wake of RendezVous Ottawa’s failure was widely panned. Tobi Nussbaum tried to reassure residents on the NCC’s alternative plan, but his case for the new approach is not utterly convincing.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to create a dynamic, thriving connected and sustainable new community, as well as a visionary destination in the heart of the nation’s capital – a chance to build something great and to build it together,” Nussbaum wrote. “We will balance the need for an overarching and concept plan while still allowing for innovation and evolution as the site is built out. We want to achieve both a vibrant, mixed-use community as well as bold capital-building elements, not one to the exclusion of the other.”

Fine words, but missing was any clear indication, commitment or pathway to a landmark development. Perhaps the NCC itself doesn’t know at this point and is simply returning to its comfort zone of thinking small. But whatever the NCC is planning, what it should not do is divvy up the 56-acre site for individual developers to turn what was once a thriving working-class community into a playground for the rich. Developers who pay a pretty penny for the land won’t build rental or affordable housing. They’ll want a high return on investment, and that means expensive high-end homes only the rich can afford. If in doubt, consider what happened at the publicly owned old Daly Building site that’s now 700 Sussex. Or what Claridge built at LeBreton. Not homes for everyday people.

We can’t keep offering public lands for the exclusive use of the rich. The LeBreton redevelopment must be one that’s open to all people – not a select few. But that’s what will happen if an overarching vision for the site is abandoned in favour of the patchwork development the NCC now appears to favour.

Nussbaum says the NCC will remain open to locating an arena at LeBreton and that’s great. The trouble is that chopping up LeBreton into individual parcels – six at the start and likely more later – for development could undermine the case for a future arena or other sports facility. Any public-use facility not fully financed by government would need supporting commercial development to make economic sense. So, how would a future privately owned arena be feasible when large chunks of surrounding land are already filled with condos and other commercial development competing for the same dollars? Remember, the RendezVous plan collapsed because Eugene Melnyk thought the 900 Albert St. project envisioned by his one-time partner would eat into his revenue and undermine the long-term viability of the arena and likely the hockey team.

Under the NCC’s retooled plan, a future proponent of an arena would not only have to contend with 900 Albert, but a slew of competing housing and other commercial development at LeBreton. How would the economics of an arena improve under such circumstances, and what kind of investor would take such a risk?

Here’s the thing: The $4-billion RendezVous plan failed for many reasons, but the grand vision laid out by NCC was not one of them. Chopping up LeBreton into small parcels for development suggests the NCC is panicking and learning the wrong reasons from that failure. The desire for a “memorable capital landmark development” is as true today as when it was first enunciated four years ago. The NCC created a plan most residents liked and supported. The RendezVous plan caught the public imagination and that kind of vision should not be abandoned.

Nussbaum says the NCC can start small and still go big. No, it will not, whatever he says today. This is Ottawa, and once we go down that road, we will simply stay the course and lose the appetite for a bolder vision. LeBreton development was supposed to be transformational. Let’s stick with that vision. The capital deserves no less.

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa writer.

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/co...hats-a-mistake

[waterloowarrior]

Came across the LeBreton planning rationale on the City's site...some inspiration for the upcoming consultations? Looked like they were proposing 60 storey height limits in several areas.

https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/de...0-%20FINAL.pdf

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Came across the LeBreton planning rationale on the City's site...some inspiration for the upcoming consultations? Looked like they were proposing 60 storey height limits in several areas.

https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/de...0-%20FINAL.pdf

Well that's depressing. Like running into an ex-girlfriend months after breaking up.

[waterloowarrior]

tender for the Master Plan closing July 8
https://buyandsell.gc.ca/procurement...PW-19-00876111

[danishh]

http://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/share-yo...lebreton-flats

Tuesday, June 18, 2019, 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm

The NCC is moving forward to create a Master Concept Plan that will provide a renewed vision for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats. Drop in any time between 5 pm and 9 pm at the Canadian War Museum to take part in an interactive open house. Different activities will provide opportunities for you to share your thoughts, ideas and vision for LeBreton Flats. Through these activities, you can

share your big ideas about what would make LeBreton Flats unique
express your priorities and values about how redevelopment efforts should be approached
experience the history of LeBreton Flats, and share your own memories at our Storymobile with “Tale of a Town”


There will be an online survey as well.

[rocketphish]

Future of LeBreton Flats, ByWard Market explored at City-Building Summit

By: David Sali, OBJ
Published: Jun 12, 2019 2:24pm EDT

The future of LeBreton Flats, major infrastructure projects such as a potential new interprovincial bridge and the revitalization of the ByWard Market are just some of the items on the agenda at today’s City-Building Summit hosted by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade.

In the first keynote address of the day, new National Capital Commission CEO Tobi Nussbaum told the audience at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building the federal Crown corporation that owns LeBreton Flats remains open to proposals for a “major events centre” at the undeveloped swath of land just west of downtown.

Nussbaum said the NCC is seeking input from urban developments around the world – such as HafenCity, a district near the port of Hamburg, Germany, that has been revitalized over the past decade with the addition of a new concert hall, shops and office space – in an effort to come up with the best mix of residential and commercial elements for the Flats.

Responding to criticisms about the NCC’s plan to subdivide the Flats into parcels of land, Nussbaum said “there is nothing piecemeal” about the agency’s redevelopment strategy. A phased-in approach makes sense, he told the crowd, because the NCC can’t rely on a “single actor” to spearhead such a massive project.

The NCC’s recent attempt to revitalize the long-vacant lands fell apart earlier this year when preferred proponent RendezVous LeBreton – a consortium led by Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and Trinity Development Group’s John Ruddy – failed to come to terms on the massive project, which included visions of condo towers and a new downtown arena for the Sens. Ruddy and Melnyk’s partnership dissolved into litigation at the end of 2018 over unresolved issues concerning Trinity’s nearby residential development at 900 Albert St.

Nussbaum added Wednesday that he’s planning to meet with City of Ottawa planning boss Steve Willis shortly to discuss how the federal agency, the city and all levels of government can work together on the project.

“We can’t do it alone,” he said.

The spotlight of the full-day conference later turned to the ByWard Market with a panel discussion on the future of the iconic downtown tourist area.

John Borsten, the owner of Zak’s Diner and a longtime restaurateur in the Market, said the neighbourhood’s business potential has never been greater. But he said there needs to be a push to upgrade the Market’s infrastructure and improve security in the neighbourhood, which has been the site of several highly publicized killings and other violent crimes in recent years.

More research needs to be done to find out what types of attractions tourists and local residents want to see in the Market, added Catherine Callary, vice-president of destination development at Ottawa Tourism and a member of the Ottawa Markets board of directors.

The Market draws millions of visitors a year, Callary noted, but she said the city can’t afford to rest on its laurels if it wants the area to remain vibrant. She said efforts to make the Market more pedestrian-friendly such as the recent pilot project to convert a one-block stretch of William Street into a car-free zone will be a “good test” for future initiatives.

“We can infuse a lot more programming, authenticity (in the Market),” she said. “We have a long road to go.”

Architect Barry Padolsky argued the Market needs to make more of an effort to return to its roots as a showcase for agricultural produce. The existing farmers’ market is “on the brink of extinction,” he told the audience, when it should be a core attraction that brings in tourists and residents from across the city.

Follow @obj_news on Twitter as the City-Building Summit continues to unfold Wednesday afternoon.

https://obj.ca/article/future-lebret...uilding-summit

[lrt's friend]

The Byward Market will be an attraction for residents across the city only if it is easy to get there. In the past, most people had to drive there. Our long-term transit plans may help for some people, but that is several years away. Phase 1 is too short. I can tell you that the current transit plan even after Phase 3 will not draw me to the Byward Market. It will still be too difficult to get there.