Envie [256 Rideau St] | 2x85m | 2x29f | Completed

[Jayday23]

can confirm that it'll be student housing, under Ashcrofts "envie" brand (same as the one in Little Italy...ie not rentals)

https://enviestudent.com/

[J.OT13]

Thanks for the confirmation.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by Jayday23

can confirm that it'll be student housing, under Ashcrofts "envie" brand (same as the one in Little Italy...ie not rentals)

https://enviestudent.com/

There will be a lot of student housing right on Rideau street. Currently you have the Friel Residence at Rideau and Friel and the Rideau Residence at Rideau and King Edward. This September, Theo ,in the renovated old government building will join them. After that , Envie.


While the Friel and the Rideau are privately owned, they are managed and operated by uOttawa. So are the privately owned residences at 45Mann and The Annex at Laurier and Friel. I wonder if these new ones will be as well?

[J.OT13]

Weren't the original Envie Towers investment condos, where private citizens or organization would buy units and rent them out to students? This one doesn't seem to be advertised that way.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Weren't the original Envie Towers investment condos, where private citizens or organization would buy units and rent them out to students? This one doesn't seem to be advertised that way.

Yes--I believe that many of the units of the original were bought by investors. It appears that the investors did not do the renting. The Building Management acts as the landlord and does the renting. It seems likely that the student renters have no contact with the investor -owners and may not even know who owns their unit.


The yet to be built Rideau Envie does not seem to be pitching to investors, but has a waiting list for prospective student renters. Could be that they plan to own and manage it themselves--or hope to enter into a management agreement with nearby uOttawa . As mentioned in my preceding post, uOttawa currently has four privately owned student residences that the university manages.

[Harley613]

Envie Tower 1 was sold to investors and managed by the company, Envie Tower 2 is in-house owned and operated.

[J.OT13]

A little history on the Dworkin Furs House. It was built by Colonel John Stewart in 1877, who served as a City Councillor (and I imagine is the namesake of Stewart Street). He lived there for 44 years before selling to Dworkin in 1921. The Dworkins owned it and operated Dworkin Furs in the house until 2012, 91 years later. If that wasn't enough for a heritage designation, then I don't know what is.

La maison Stewart-Dworkin laisse place à des immeubles à condos

JULIEN PAQUETTE
Le Droit
3 mars, 2019




https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ght-fall-short



Cette photo d’archives a été retrouvée dans l’atelier d’un descendant du colonel John Stewart, qui habitait à San Diego, par l’historien Marc Aubin, il y a plus de 15 ans. La maison Stewart-Dworkin a été construite par le colonel en 1877. On peut voir sa famille sur l’image d’archives.

John Stewart, un immigrant irlandais, a joint l’armée canadienne en 1857 et a plus tard été conseiller municipal à Ottawa. Il a aussi lancé une entreprise de construction qui a réalisé des travaux sur le canal Rideau et sur l’édifice de l’Ouest du parlement. Le colonel Stewart a vendu la maison située au 256, rue Rideau à la famille Dworkin en 1921. L’entreprise Dworkin Furs a occupé le bâtiment jusqu’à l’arrêt de ses activités en 2012. Le bâtiment a par la suite été acquis par une firme immobilière puis démoli en 2014 pour laisser la place à des immeubles à condos.

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/d...13fe2a6033de08

[Soi-Fon]

I wish they could have done like in Toronto or Montreal, and preserve the facade of the house.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

What a disappointment. That's quite a nice house, the city really should realize how heritage is key in communities.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

What a disappointment. That's quite a nice house, the city really should realize how heritage is key in communities.

Heritage activist Marc Aubin tried to convince the city to save it in 2014 , but to no avail.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Marc Aubin, who plans to run for city council in Rideau-Vanier this fall, says the Stewart-Dworkin House at 236 Rideau Street should be preserved as a treasured piece of the city’s history.
But the city’s planning department says alterations to the home have diminished its architectural significance, and it has lost its contextual value as Rideau Street has been developed.

[J.OT13]

And also from the Citizen, why it wasn't deemed worthy of saving:

• the home’s windows have been replaced
• there have been a number of additionsa historic veranda at the front has been removed
• bay windows, concrete steps and a metal railing have been added.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ght-fall-short

Well then just about nothing would ever qualify for heritage designation!!

[OTownandDown]

That stretch of Rideau isn't exactly a heritage zone... granted one block away IS a heritage zone, but c'mon people. Sometimes intensification on the main street is important as well.

I love maintaining heritage areas, and live in a heritage building. It is one thing to have a building with ALL of its heritage elements intact. It is another to ask a developer to tack on the facade of an old building with a non-sympathetic modern structure. Its not fooling anyone, and I think some of these actually detract from a neighborhood (Take the insane church facade at Bank and Gilmour. Nothing like a good dead zone in the middle of a building to liven up a block.)

Want to make warm and fuzzy feelings for passers by? How about requiring 'heritage' materials and design elements in new builds, rather than crappy glazing and fading aluminum sheet metal? Its about time we demand QUALITY cladding elements from our developers.

Example: Urban Outfitters store on Rideau and it's modern tower above. Heritage clay brick facade, built to the required height per the community design plan, in a lovely arching colonnade. MORE of this, please.

In closing, sometimes we need to accept the end of an era, and embrace the new. Sometimes we need to embrace the old and maintain it like a fine whiskey. Going half-way with either should be avoided.

[k.evans]

Originally Posted by LeadingEdgeBoomer

Heritage activist Marc Aubin tried to convince the city to save it in 2014 , but to no avail.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Marc recently published a book which is a fictionalized account of the destruction of Lowertown for the sake of urban renewal starting in the 1960s and the work to preserve the heritage buildings in the area. It's well researched and is an interesting peak behind the curtain of the bureaucratic apparatus that continues to allow the destruction of our built heritage for the sake of monstrosities like this building and the rest of the Claridge towers dominating the area.

Not that intensification or change is a bad thing, I just wish it were channeled in a way that is preserves and compliments what has already been built.

https://www.crowsnestbooks.com/product/blight/

[OTownandDown]

Example of Demanding BETTER

https://www.dezeen.com/2019/03/18/ar...sydney-bricks/

[Davis137]

I agree with that example pic above, and the same can be said for a lot of the redevelopments going on in downtown Hamilton right now...spending the time and care to restore and compliment original masonry and carpentry on the late 1800's-early 1900's buildings.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

That stretch of Rideau isn't exactly a heritage zone... granted one block away IS a heritage zone, but c'mon people. Sometimes intensification on the main street is important as well.

I love maintaining heritage areas, and live in a heritage building. It is one thing to have a building with ALL of its heritage elements intact. It is another to ask a developer to tack on the facade of an old building with a non-sympathetic modern structure. Its not fooling anyone, and I think some of these actually detract from a neighborhood (Take the insane church facade at Bank and Gilmour. Nothing like a good dead zone in the middle of a building to liven up a block.)

Want to make warm and fuzzy feelings for passers by? How about requiring 'heritage' materials and design elements in new builds, rather than crappy glazing and fading aluminum sheet metal? Its about time we demand QUALITY cladding elements from our developers.

Example: Urban Outfitters store on Rideau and it's modern tower above. Heritage clay brick facade, built to the required height per the community design plan, in a lovely arching colonnade. MORE of this, please.

In closing, sometimes we need to accept the end of an era, and embrace the new. Sometimes we need to embrace the old and maintain it like a fine whiskey. Going half-way with either should be avoided.

I want to see more like 150 Elgin, with Grant House integrated into the modern office tower. The old house preserves it's foundation, basement, structure, cladding, windows and character.

I agree the building at Bank and Gilmore (Central Condo incorporating the Metropolitain Bible Church) was done horribly. Bare minimum of effort. They could have made the main entrance through that façade. Ogilvy's façade as part of the Rideau expansion is pretty good, but it bothers me that the floors don't align and still think they could have saved the buildings in its entirety. Caplan's replica looks great, maybe even better than the original honestly, based on pics I've seen (don't remember seeing the original in person myself).

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I want to see more like 150 Elgin, with Grant House integrated into the modern office tower. The old house preserves it's foundation, basement, structure, cladding, windows and character.

I agree the building at Bank and Gilmore (Central Condo incorporating the Metropolitain Bible Church) was done horribly. Bare minimum of effort. They could have made the main entrance through that façade. Ogilvy's façade as part of the Rideau expansion is pretty good, but it bothers me that the floors don't align and still think they could have saved the buildings in its entirety. Caplan's replica looks great, maybe even better than the original honestly, based on pics I've seen (don't remember seeing the original in person myself).

I couldn't agree more.

[eltodesukane]

Digging underway next to Claridge Plaza III & IV
This will be a 29 storey building with 568 rooming units with ground floor retail.

Photo 2019-03-27


Photo 2019-04-22


Photo 2019-04-29

[sleye]

They have been blasting on site for awhile. The crane went up last week.

[Harley613]

I'm really curious if the final product will look anything like the last renders. Being Ottawa I doubt it, since there is zero accountability for developers that vary from the plan. I am mostly curious about the checkerboard paint job on the blank walls, I wonder if that could end up looking better or worse than a gray concrete wall, especially when the paint starts to peel.