OTTAWA -- A developer has briefed city politicians over its hope to erect the city’s tallest building, a potentially controversial 35-storey condo tower near the corner of Preston Street and Carling Avenue.
Mastercraft Starwood, a Toronto-based builder with Ottawa roots and a number of other “SOHO” developments throughout the city, will be asking the city for a second rezoning of the site in order to allow the proposed 230-unit project, dubbed SOHO Italia. The company has hired well-known local architect Rod Lahey, whose preliminary drawings depict a soaring tower with a series of undulating terraces that reach to the sky and digital billboards on the lower floors that disguise parking.
Although these early plans won’t likely be submitted to the city’s planning department until next month, the developer has already met with Mayor Jim Watson, planning committee chairman Councillor Peter Hume, and the ward representative, Councillor Diane Holmes, to brief them of the plans.
Watson was unavailable for comment on Monday, but spokesman Bruce Graham said the mayor had made no commitments and that he “looks forward to the public’s input” on the matter in the coming months.
Both Hume and Holmes, however, expressed skepticism that the extra heights are justified and characterized the project as “overwhelming,” “daunting” and “out of perspective for the area.”
“Of course, everyone is trying to get up high enough to see Dow’s Lake,” said Holmes. “It’s all about making as much money as you can from those top floors that have a view of the water.”
The city’s official plan, which lays out where and how intensification should unfold across the city, calls for heights of around five storeys on a street deemed a traditional main street like Preston. But a number of years ago, the site at Preston and Sidney Street was rezoned for about 64 metres, or approximately 20 storeys. At the time, the extra height was given because the location fit in with a number of the city’s intensification goals, including the fact that it is near public transit.
But now the developer is asking for another 50-per-cent increase in height to 112 metres, or 35 storeys.
“This (site) already has lots of height, it’s not a small building to begin with,” said Hume. “The zoning there adequately reflects the city’s goals when it comes to intensification.”
Lahey said in an interview Monday that he sees the site as “a gateway” or entrance to Little Italy, adding that the extra height the builder is requesting allows for “a little more fun with the architecture.” He suggested that Ottawa has a downtown that “is less than inspiring,” architecturally speaking, partly because buildings have been kept “artificially low.”
The plans for the building call for the first two levels to be a museum or pavilion of some kind that will “highlight the Italian community,” said Lahey. On top of that would also be about four levels of parking, disguised by digital billboards, like a mini-Times Square. (There’s also a provision for underground parking as well.) The condos themselves would start on the seventh floor.
There’s a concept — relatively new to Ottawa — that developers asking for height over and above what the zoning calls for should give something back to the community. In this case, the developer would donate space for an Italian-heritage museum.
The only trouble is, there is no Italian museum.
“It’s still very difficult to find someone who’s going to run a museum,” said Holmes. “They cost money to run. I don’t think the community benefit is real.”
Hume added that although “there’s still a lot to discuss,” so far he too is not seeing any community benefit that would be worth giving the developer the extra height.
“I’ve yet to be convinced,” he said.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...#ixzz1BRezXow4