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  #121  
Old Posted Jul 24, 2021, 3:16 AM
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Williamoforange Williamoforange is offline
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Originally Posted by rocketphish View Post
Ottawa industrial rents rise to rank among highest in Canada: Colliers

By: OBJ staff
Published: Jul 23, 2021 5:53pm EDT


With the rate of available space once again approaching historic lows, Ottawa has become Canada’s most expensive industrial real estate market east of Vancouver, according to a leading brokerage firm.

Colliers says Ottawa continues to see strong leasing demand from e-commerce and distribution companies. Amazon’s 2.8-million-square-foot fulfillment centre was recently completed by developer Broccolini at 222 Citigate Dr. in Barrhaven, and the e-commerce giant also leased nearly 105,000 square feet at 1000 Legacy Road, just off Hawthorne Road, that it will occupy in the fourth quarter, according to Colliers.

While the citywide availability rate was flat at 2.3 per cent, rental rates continued to rise and reached $11.41 per square foot. That’s up four per cent over the first quarter and 8.6 per cent year over year, putting Ottawa behind only Victoria and Vancouver for the most expensive industrial market in Canada.

Colliers says this high demand, rising rents and the recent successes of other projects are leading to speculative developments picking up across the city, particularly near 400-series highways.

Developer Avenue 31 recently broke ground on its 147,000-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building in the National Capital Business Park near the Hunt Club Road and Highway 417 interchange. It expects to complete the project by mid-2022.

Elsewhere, Colliers notes Colonnade Bridgeport is pre-leasing space at its Dealership Drive project in Barrhaven, as is Manulife for its project at St. Laurent Boulevard and Conroy Road.

https://www.obj.ca/article/real-esta...anada-colliers
If your wondering, this is something I was already well aware of....which is why I don't think we should be removing what little industrial zoning we have, and then relegating it to the edges of the city borders (Ex: Amazon & w.e going in near Richmond). There have been a few of these in recent memory, the old milk plant off carling, and the dev near Cryville LRT station, ot at minimum hold off rezoning type until more industrial zoned land has been added to the city.

If you want any other reasons as to why, look at the zoning hell that is going on with both the Barhaven application and the Airport lands application.
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  #122  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2021, 1:18 PM
Catenary Catenary is offline
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Originally Posted by rocketphish View Post
Ottawa industrial rents rise to rank among highest in Canada: Colliers

By: OBJ staff
Published: Jul 23, 2021 5:53pm EDT


...
Amazon’s 2.8-million-square-foot fulfillment centre was recently completed by developer Broccolini at 222 Citigate Dr. in Barrhaven, and the e-commerce giant also leased nearly 105,000 square feet at 1000 Legacy Road, just off Hawthorne Road, that it will occupy in the fourth quarter, according to Colliers.
...


https://www.obj.ca/article/real-esta...anada-colliers
This is the first I have heard of this, but I did notice that the building was under construction when I was last at Princess Auto. It's actually 100 Legacy Road, which was previously Summit Food Service. Too small to be a fulfillment centre, my guess was that it would be a delivery facility. Sure enough, a Google search brings up a result for "DYT6 Amazon Delivery Station" at that address.

This is a popular area for couriers, with Purolator, UPS and the TransForce companies all within walking distance. It will be interesting to see Amazon move into the Ottawa market with their own logistics.
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  #123  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2021, 9:42 PM
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Amazon Delivery Station DYT3 [2625 Sheffield Rd] | Proposed

"Client Name withheld on Request"

A Site Plan Control application for surface parking lot modifications to accommodate a total of 147 vehicle parking spaces and 316 van parking spaces on the site at 2625 Sheffield Road. The site works include a major interior renovation of the existing facility, with the existing footprint of 33,472 m2 being reduced to 28,864 m2.

The proposed use for the site is a new logistics Delivery Station which fulfills customer orders. The tenant specializes in “last mile” delivery of customer orders. Packages are shipped to the Delivery Station from large distribution centers. Packages arrive from line haul trucks, are sorted based on postal codes, and loaded into delivery vans operated by delivery service providers or personal vehicle operators.

Delivery stations operate 24/7, with sortation activity done early in the morning when the line haul trucks arrive with customer packages. At this proposed facility, the tenant anticipates approximately five lane haul trucks delivering packages to the Delivery Station between approximately 8pm and 7am. Packages are sorted by routes and placed onto movable racks. Sorting occurs in primarily two shifts, with the first occurring between 8:00 PM and 5:00 AM and second occurring between 6:30 AM to 12:30 PM with approximately 150 associates entering and departing between those times depending on the time of year.

The design for the building consists of four interior components, an office, a receiving and sorting area, a delivery van staging, and a delivery van loading area. The first shift of delivery drivers arrives at the delivery station at approximately 6:30 AM. Delivery vans will queue in the interior van staging area until they are ready to be loaded. Once they reach the loading area, delivery drivers load their delivery van and depart to deliver packages directly to customers. Each delivery wave takes about 30 minutes to load and depart. As a wave of vans prepare to depart, a new wave of vans queue and prepare for loading. The last wave of delivery drivers departs the site around 1:00PM.

Development application:
https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applica...1-0119/details


Last edited by rocketphish; Apr 21, 2022 at 10:44 PM. Reason: Updated post title
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  #124  
Old Posted Aug 27, 2021, 12:05 AM
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It's good to see that warehouse space won't sit empty for too long. This is the old Loblaw distribution centre, which they vacated in early/mid 2020 if I recall correctly (could have been late 2019).

I am unfamiliar with Amazon's last mile service... is there potential for this to be Amazon? (or someone operating on behalf of them).
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  #125  
Old Posted Aug 27, 2021, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by MountainView View Post
I am unfamiliar with Amazon's last mile service... is there potential for this to be Amazon? (or someone operating on behalf of them).
Very much yes, this has all the hallmarks of an Amazon facility.

With that said, Amazon also appears to be working on a facility off Ages Road, as noted a couple of posts above. I wonder if this is instead for a courier like Intelcom, which has been growing massively in Ottawa.
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  #126  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2021, 11:42 AM
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Bayshore stake sold in deal that values shopping centre at $387-million

By: David Sali, OBJ
Published: Sep 14, 2021 2:56pm EDT




KingSett Capital is now sole owner of the region’s second-largest shopping mall after purchasing Ivanhoe Cambridge’s 50 per cent stake in the Bayshore Shopping Centre for $193.5-million.

KingSett and Ivanhoe Cambridge were joint owners of the west-end mall, which opened in 1973 and attracted more than eight million visitors a year before the pandemic.

The sale is part of Ivanhoe Cambridge’s “strategic plan” to ensure its real estate portfolio is “well-diversified,” a company spokesperson said in an email to OBJ. Bayshore was the firm’s only Ottawa property.

Cushman & Wakefield has now taken over management of the 880,000-square-foot mall from Ivanhoe Cambridge. KingSett Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the transaction, which closed earlier this summer.

Founded in 2002, KingSett manages nearly $16-billion worth of office, retail, residential, industrial and hotel properties across the country.

Bayshore is KingSett’s sole Ottawa retail holding.

Last year, the firm also presented a proposal to build two rental apartment highrises next to the mall in partnership with Ivanhoe Cambridge. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for an update on the development project Tuesday.

Retail analyst Barry Nabatian said he wasn’t surprised that Ivanhoe Cambridge decided to divest its share of the mall, which completed a $200-million expansion in 2016 and now has about 170 stores.

The Montreal-based company – which manages more than $60-billion in office, residential, retail and industrial properties around the world – has been looking to pare down its retail portfolio for a while, Nabatian noted, and probably felt the time was right to sell Bayshore.

“They have many other things to manage, and shopping mall management is not easy,” he said, citing rising insurance and maintenance costs as well as a sharp drop in consumer traffic during the pandemic as likely factors in Ivanhoe Cambridge’s decision to sell.

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc with the Canadian shopping mall industry, which was already in a spiral before the pandemic.

According to research from Deloitte, foot traffic in the country’s Top 10 malls fell more than 20 per cent between 2018 and 2019 and plummeted a whopping 42 per cent between February 2019 and February 2020.

Meanwhile, online shopping has surged, with e-commerce now accounting for one-fifth of all retail spending in Ottawa compared with just five per cent two years ago, according to Nabatian.

But the director of market research at Shore-Tanner & Associates said Bayshore hasn’t been hit as hard by COVID-19 as many other local retail complexes. He cited the west end’s rapid growth, high average incomes and relatively young population as key factors in the mall’s success.

Bayshore’s retailers generated average sales of about $750 per square foot in 2019, second only to the Rideau Centre among Ottawa shopping centres. Nabatian said he expects Bayshore to bounce back to pre-COVID sales levels – and then some – at some point in 2022.

“Give it six months, a year from now, assuming that delta is under control and there is no more bad news coming, I think that they’re going to reach the $900- to $1,000-per-square-foot range,” he said.

https://www.obj.ca/article/real-esta...re-387-million
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  #127  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2021, 12:56 PM
OTownandDown OTownandDown is offline
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Originally Posted by Catenary View Post
Very much yes, this has all the hallmarks of an Amazon facility.

With that said, Amazon also appears to be working on a facility off Ages Road, as noted a couple of posts above. I wonder if this is instead for a courier like Intelcom, which has been growing massively in Ottawa.
Hopefully this is for Intelcom and not JoeyCo (both are Amazon contractors). JoeyCo regularly miss-fires (wrong address), doesn't provide shipping updates (i.e. delivers without notice) and I've had all deliveries come with dented or crumpled boxes.

JoeyCo is new on the Ottawa scene, they're based in Toronto... perhaps because Intelcom cannot keep up in the Ottawa market?

For comparison, Intelcom sends an email when the driver leaves the warehouse, with an estimated delivery schedule, and another email when the package has arrived with a photo of the package on the front stoop. At least when they deliver to the wrong address, I can usually tell which of my neighbours houses my package is at!! LOL
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  #128  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2021, 2:33 PM
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... with a photo of the package on the front stoop. At least when they deliver to the wrong address, I can usually tell which of my neighbours houses my package is at!! LOL
This is no help if the package is stolen, possibly by the delivery person.
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  #129  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2021, 2:48 PM
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Could L’Esplanade Laurier soon be on the block?

David Sali, OBJ
October 15, 2021


L’Esplanade Laurier and other aging federally owned buildings could be on the market in the next few years as the feds look to modernize their real estate portfolio in the National Capital Region, a high-ranking government official said this week.

Stéphan Déry, the assistant deputy minister for real property services at Public Services and Procurement Canada, said the federal government’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 40 per cent by 2030 will likely include selling off older buildings that don’t meet today’s energy-efficiency targets.

He cited the L’Esplanade Laurier complex on Laurier Avenue – which consists of two 23-storey office towers, a three-storey underground parking garage and a retail podium that were built more than 45 years ago and have recently undergone renovations – as a prime example of a property that could be sold to private developers and converted into other office or residential uses.

“These large assets that are at the end of their useful life, we’re going to be looking to dispose of them,” Déry told Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa managing director Nathan Smith during a presentation at this week’s virtual Ottawa Real Estate Forum.

“I can see L’Esplanade Laurier in the next four, five, six years being on the market for the private sector.”

Greener leases

The federal government currently occupies about 37 million square feet of office space in the region, and about 18 million square feet of that space is leased. Déry said the feds’ push to go greener includes a mandate that 75 per cent of those leases will have to be in carbon-neutral buildings by the end of the decade, suggesting that offers an opportunity to landlords with environmentally friendly properties.

“We’re looking for space that will be carbon-neutral, that is accessible, modern space,” he explained.

While most of the federal government’s roughly 140,000 employees in the region are still working from home, Déry said it remains to be seen how the shift to remote work during the pandemic plays out over the long haul.

“We’re juggling what the future’s going to look like,” he said. “We know that space may be used differently, but we know we’ll need space.”

The government has renewed about 100 leases totalling 3.5 million square feet of space over the past 18 months, Déry added. He said that while the feds plan to cut their real estate footprint by 30 per cent over the next 25 years, it’s still an open question whether those timelines will be pushed forward in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

Satellite offices?

“This could be accelerated, but it’s not something that’s going to be done overnight,” he said.

Déry also suggested that how government office space will be parcelled out could change dramatically as a hybrid work world becomes the norm.

He said he sees a future where workers are no longer required to commute from the suburbs to central offices in the core. Déry imagined a scenario in which the feds set up a “network” of satellite offices across the country, where civil servants can drop in and share space closer to their homes in the suburbs.

“You may have a building in a remote location, but it doesn’t serve only one department, it serves all the federal public service, and it’s that kind of co-working space,” he said. “We see a takeup on that and an interest from multiple departments.”
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/new...reply&t=219958
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  #130  
Old Posted Oct 21, 2021, 2:12 PM
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Greening federal gov’t building portfolio offers CRE ‘opportunity’

Don Wilcox, RENX.ca
Oct. 15, 2021


The ongoing pandemic, a quest to green its real estate footprint and a portfolio of buildings nearing the end of their useful lifespans will lead to a major transformation of the federal government’s real estate footprint during the next couple of decades.

That was the message from Stéphan Dery, the assistant deputy minister, real property services, for Public Services and Procurement Canada during his annual update on the government’s real estate plans at the virtual Ottawa Real Estate Forum this week.

While many of these changes had already started well before the pandemic, Dery said the effects of COVID-19 have accelerated some of the transformations, and the government’s owned-building portfolio isn’t getting any younger. Decisions on its future are becoming more pressing.

The feds do own a significant portion of the 75 million square feet of space they occupy. Of that portfolio, about 38 million square feet is in Ottawa, Gatineau and the National Capital Region (NCR), and 18 million square feet is leased from private owners.

Dery and PSPC work with 102 departments and agencies which employ about 240,000 people, just over half of them in the NCR.

Any shift in strategy will have wide-reaching implications for commercial real estate owners and operators, from those now leasing space to the feds, to companies wanting to sign government agencies as future tenants, and others hoping to buy aging assets for redevelopments.

“I think what you will see in the next few years is the Government of Canada disposing of large, old high-GHG-emission assets and replacing those assets by either new space that is leased, that is carbon neutral, or old space that is modernized and carbon neutral,” Dery told the CRE executives attending the online interview conducted by Nathan Smith, senior vice-president at the Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa office.

L’Esplanade Laurier could be sold

He offered the example of L’Esplanade Laurier, a complex including two 23-storey office towers connected by a podium, with three levels of underground parking in downtown Ottawa.

“I can see L’Esplanade Laurier in the next four, five or six years being on the market for the private sector either to redevelop it into apartments/condominiums, or redevelop it for office space, a hotel, whatever the private sector and the city will need at the time,” Dery said.

“These large assets that are at the end of their useful lives, we are going to be looking to dispose of them.”

The message was clear for firms looking to do business with the government, which has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 40 per cent by 2030. Real estate will be a major contributor.

“A lot of our inventory is old . . . it’s significant GHG emissions. So we are really looking for the next inventory, where we are going, to make these buildings, either leased or old, carbon neutral. It’s quite important to us,” Dery said.

“In 2030, 75 per cent of our lease(s) will have to be carbon neutral.”

As for how much space the government will occupy, Dery said current projections are to continue down the path to cut 30 per cent of its footprint.

Feds remain committed to smaller footprint

“Our portfolio plan says that over the next 25 years, we are thinking about reducing our footprint by 30 per cent or more depending on the outcome of COVID. It might be accelerated, but it’s not something that is going to be done overnight.”

Smith noted, however, if the government does shed aging real estate in favour of leasing newer, more environmentally friendly space, that could actually offer an opportunity for the CRE sector.

“When we talk about a 30 per cent reduction in your space over a 25-year horizon, people in the room would start to get nervous. Is public works going to significantly downsize their lease portfolio?” Smith asked.

“I would say it’s probably an opportunity for growth in your lease portfolio as you exit some of these Crown-owned assets.”

Dery left all options open, but reinforced his earlier comments about greening the portfolio. He wanted the message to be “quite clear” – this is where the opportunity will be.

“I know that really today, none of our lease would meet that (GHG) criteria in Gatineau, Ottawa and (the NCR). So we have an opportunity here.

“If you are a landlord, an owner, an investor, and you want to keep leasing space to the Government of Canada, just think about that. Seventy-five per cent of new leases or renewals in 2030 will have to be carbon neutral.”

The process has already started, with the disposal of several aging federal buildings in the NCR. In 2019, it was announced the feds will lease 158,000 square feet at a new eight-storey office building being constructed at the carbon-neutral Zibi development straddling Ottawa and Gatineau.

The government is also looking to develop a 1.6-million-square-foot office campus on land it owns at 599 Tremblay Rd. in East Ottawa, working with a developer on a land-lease basis.

Return to office and potential vacancy

Dery touched on a number of other points during the wide-ranging, half-hour presentation.

On current lease renewals, he said the government is looking at shorter time frames for properties it renews, but so far it has not made significant space reductions.

“We know that space may be used differently, but we’ll need space. So over the last 18 months, the COVID period, we have approximately renewed 100 leases, totalling 3.2 million square feet in the National Capital Region,” Dery said.

“If it’s going to reduce, it’s going to reduce over time. It’s not something that you turn on a dime.”

On return-to-office, he said government data shows pre-pandemic most public service offices had in-person occupancy of about 60 per cent capacity on a daily basis due to a combination of many factors – hybrid work schedules, staggered working times or shift work, travel, time off, illness, etc.

Current in-person staffing remains well below that level and he said he foresees permanent on-person staffing levels dropping by another 10 per cent or so.

“I could definitely see an increase in that with the work from home, or hybrid model equal to 10 per cent . . . easily 10 per cent.”

Smith put that into perspective, noting vacancy in Ottawa had declined to the six per cent range pre-COVID and is sitting around 10 per cent now with some reabsorption occurring.

“On a market basis, is that three or four per cent? Somewhere in that range, and that is really delivering two or three new buildings into the market at once and letting the market absorb that space,” Smith offered.

“I would suspect the market will be resilient and be able to absorb that vacancy that obviously is coming to us post-COVID.”

Government co-working model

Dery also envisioned the possibility of a government network of workspaces allowing remote workers to access facilities closer to where they live.

Modelled on the co-working office format, he said it could involve a number of departments sharing workspaces.

“You may have a building in a remote location but it doesn’t serve only one department . . . it serves all of the federal public service and it’s that kind of co-working space,” he explained. “We see a take-up on that and interest from multiple departments.

“I think it is going to work well with the hybrid (work schedules): you need to go to the office, there is an office not too far from your house and you reduce the GHG emissions.”

https://renx.ca/greening-of-federal-...s-opportunity/
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  #131  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2021, 10:24 PM
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2020 Walkley Rd & 2935 Conroy Rd | 3 x 11m | 3 x 1f | Proposed

>> I'm sticking this old proposal here, as it became a hot topic more recently.



Canderel\Manulife is proposing a phased plan to demolish the existing structures and construct three warehouse buildings is proposed for the Subject Property at 2020 Walkley Road and 2935 Conroy Road. Upon completion, modifications to the existing parking lot will provide a total of 291 surface parking spaces and loading spaces to service the warehouse function.

The proposal will create a combined gross floor area of approximately 24,700 square metres. The accessory office uses within the proposed buildings will have a combined gross floor area of approximately 2,470 square metres.

A new right-in right-out driveway is proposed to replace the existing full access driveway off Walkley Road at the north eastern corner of the property. The existing right-in, right-out driveway off Conroy Road will be replaced with a full access driveway and adjusted to align with “Warehouse 3” in the third phase. A new right-in right-out driveway is proposed to the south of the existing access off Conroy Road. A new full access driveway will be provided off St. Laurent Boulevard along the south eastern corner of the property.

Architect: N45 Architecture Inc.


Development application:
https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applica...1-0021/details


Location:




Siteplan:




Elevations:

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  #132  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2021, 10:24 PM
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Planning committee approves three-warehouse plan for Walkley and Conroy

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 08, 2021 • 51 minutes ago • 3 minute read




Another warehouse development eyed for an Ottawa business park drew opposition from some planning committee members on Monday, but the development plan received quiet support from the majority.

Three one-storey warehouses would be built in phases at the southeast corner of Walkley and Conroy roads if council on Nov. 24 agrees with the committee’s recommendation.

Manulife owns the land at 2020 Walkley Rd. and 2935 Conroy Rd. and has hired Canderel to manage the warehouse project.

However, Canderel’s Eric Cordon told councillors the companies don’t know yet who would move into the facilities. They have been trying to appeal to a broad market, he said.

It’s the second rezoning application in recent months to build warehouses in business parks.

In September, planning committee heard from south-end residents concerned about a proposal to build a warehouse in the South Merivale Business Park . It was another warehouse application without an identified end user.

Landowners are trying to capitalize on a gap in the local market. Councillors have heard about a growing demand for warehouse space in Ottawa as retailers try to keep pace with the popularity of e-commerce.

The Manulife development application for Walkley and Conroy roads would bring a new warehouse development closer to the central urban area, but with good access to Highway 417. The site is at the junction of two truck routes that lead to the highway.

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans said the warehouse development, which would replace two buildings on the site, isn’t appropriate for the “prestige business park” in her ward.

Deans, who isn’t a member of the planning committee, recalled how the city originally wanted the intersection to be the focal point for the business park and removed the category of “warehouse” as an acceptable use or the land.

The committee heard that the site is zoned for up to 12 storeys as the gateway for the business park.

Deans challenged committee members to visit the area around the business park to understand how “three honkin’ big warehouses at the primary corner do not fit.”

The footprints of the warehouses would be (from north to south on the 5.7-hectare site) 7,650 square metres, 8,450 square metres and 8,551 square metres. The city would apply a cap of 10,000 square metres per warehouse.

Murray Chown, the Novatech planning consultant on the project, said the city’s plan for the site is grossly out of date, seeing that it was put in place 30 years ago.

Chown said there would be little difference between the light industrial uses that are permitted today and the proposed warehouses. He flashed a map showing several neighbouring properties that already allow warehouses in their zoning.

Two local community associations sent representatives to the committee meetings to voice their opposition.

Martin Eley of the South Keys Greenboro Community Association warned councillors about the Walkley-Conroy intersection “already bursting at the seams” with traffic.

Paul Norris, president of the Hunt Club Park Community Association, said trucks turning into the warehouse site, across a cycling lane, would present a dangerous situation.

“It’s not a Honda Civic turning in. It’s a truck,” Norris said.

On the other hand, the number of trucks entering and leaving the site is expected to be low. Of the 44-46 peak-hour vehicle trips that would be generated by the site, between five and eight trips would be made by trucks, according to modelling commissioned by the developer.

Coun. Jean Cloutier, who represents residents in the nearby Alta Vista ward, urged colleagues on the planning committee to vote against the warehouse application because of the potential for trucks to interfere with the city’s transit plans.

Cloutier pointed out the area of Walkley Road is part of the ultimate vision for the Baseline Road bus rapid transit project.

Councillors who voted in favour of the development had little to say before the committee voted 7-3 in support of the rezoning application.

Voting in support of the application were Laura Dudas, Tim Tierney, Jeff Leiper, Catherine Kitts, Allan Hubley, Scott Moffatt and Glen Gower. Shawn Menard and Riley Brockington joined Cloutier in voting against the proposal.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ley-and-conroy
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  #133  
Old Posted Nov 9, 2021, 3:17 AM
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1195 Newmarket St | 11m | 2f | Proposed

The applicant wishes to construct a one storey 10,735 square metre multi-tenant warehouse building warehouse building with the potential for 19 loading bays, 79 auto and 11 bicycle parking spaces, at 1195 Newmarket Street. The subject site is a 25,931.3 square-metre property fronting onto Newmarket Street, directly adjacent to its intersection with Bantree Street. The site is currently vacant and cleared, with the previous buildings on site having been demolished. The site is generally rectangular, and has 130.24 metres of frontage on Newmarket Street.

Architect: Gupta Architecture


Development application:
https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applica...1-0114/details


Location:






Siteplan:




Renderings:















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  #134  
Old Posted Nov 9, 2021, 5:12 PM
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This is the first I have heard of this, but I did notice that the building was under construction when I was last at Princess Auto. It's actually 100 Legacy Road, which was previously Summit Food Service. Too small to be a fulfillment centre, my guess was that it would be a delivery facility. Sure enough, a Google search brings up a result for "DYT6 Amazon Delivery Station" at that address.

This is a popular area for couriers, with Purolator, UPS and the TransForce companies all within walking distance. It will be interesting to see Amazon move into the Ottawa market with their own logistics.
I ordered something from Amazon this week and the tracking now says Amazon is the courier, so I'm guessing the new delivery station is now active at Ages and Legacy.
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  #135  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2021, 9:04 PM
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Place de Ville sold for $350M in second-largest deal in Ottawa history

David Sali, OBJ
Nov 30, 2021




The Place de Ville office complex has been sold to a pair of Toronto real estate firms for $350 million in the second-largest commercial real estate transaction in Ottawa history.

Crestpoint Real Estate Investments and Crown Realty Partners purchased the 1.17-million-square foot downtown property in a deal that closed last week. The two companies each own a 50 per cent stake in Place de Ville, which will be managed by Crown Realty.

The four-building complex had been jointly owned by the Alberta Investment Management Corp., Brookfield Properties and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Crown Realty partner Emily Hanna called Place de Ville a “best-in-class” downtown office property, noting the complex remains in excellent condition after nearly five decades and has floorplates that can accommodate a wide range of tenants.

“Its physical attributes, together with its location, accessibility and connectivity make it a superior offering,” she said in an email to OBJ.

The sale marks the biggest transaction in Ottawa commercial real estate since a consortium of investors purchased nearby Constitution Square for $480 million in 2017. It comes at a tumultuous time for a sector that’s been reeling from the effects of the pandemic as tenants fled prime downtown office space to work remotely.

“I think it’s a vote of confidence in our office sector right now in light of two years dealing with a pandemic … and question marks around a return to office,” said Nico Zentil, senior vice-president of capital markets at CBRE’s Ottawa office, which helped broker the sale on behalf of the sellers along with CBRE’s Toronto office and RBC Capital Markets.

“I think a transaction like this is a statement-making signal that does reinvigorate the conviction around office (space) from a long-term perspective.”

It’s the second time in recent history the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has offloaded a major downtown office asset. The Crown corporation also owned a share of Constitution Square before the complex was sold to Greystone Managed Investments, Canderel and Canstone Realty Advisors four years ago.

“From time to time, we evaluate opportunities to realize gains on our investments, including real estate,” CPP Investments spokesman Frank Switzer said in an email.

Opened in the early 1970s, the Place de Ville complex consists of four buildings – three highrises and a four-storey podium – on Queen, Kent and Sparks streets as well as a surface parking lot.

The 29-storey Tower C at 320 Queen St. is Ottawa’s tallest office building at 367 feet, while Tower A at 330 Sparks St. and Tower B next door at 112 Kent St. are both 22 storeys.

The federal government is the largest tenant, occupying about 85 per cent of the complex. Transport Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency have the feds’ biggest footprints at the site, which is normally home to more than 7,000 civil servants.

Stable tenant base

Canada Life and Alterna Savings and Credit Union are among the other tenants at Place de Ville, which is one of only three office properties in Ottawa with direct pedestrian links to light rail. An underground concourse that connects to the nearby Lyon LRT station recently underwent a $5-million renovation.

The entire complex is 92 per cent leased, with an average weighted term of about five and a half years remaining.

According to Crown Realty’s website, Towers A and C are both fully occupied, while Tower B has about 67,000 square feet of vacant space and the podium at 300 Sparks St. has 29,000 square feet of available real estate.

CBRE’s national investment team put Place de Ville on the market in June. Zentil said the buildings attracted “strong” interest from a number of “really high-quality bidders.”

The veteran broker said Place de Ville was a sought-after commodity for a couple of key reasons. In addition to providing “significant cash-flow security” to investors thanks to its stable roster of government tenants, the complex’s vacant parking lot offers an “enticing” space for new development on a prime piece of downtown land, he explained.

The deal is the biggest foray yet into the Ottawa market for Crestpoint and Crown Realty, which have been aggressively expanding their footprints in the National Capital Region in recent years.

Acquisition tears

In March 2020, Crestpoint purchased a 50 per cent stake in a 26-storey office tower at 234 Laurier Ave. W. whose tenants include Shopify. The company added to its local portfolio with the $50-million acquisition of four class-A industrial buildings this summer and also owns three office buildings in Kanata.

Crown, meanwhile, has been on an acquisition tear since buying its first Ottawa property, the Carling Executive Park, for $56.5 million in 2019. The company now manages more than 2.5 million square feet of office space at seven sites across the region.

Zentil said the Place de Ville transaction is further evidence that Ottawa’s beleaguered office sector is poised for better days ahead as the economy slowly emerges from its COVID-19-fuelled funk.

Driven by a 50-basis-point drop in the downtown core, the city’s overall office vacancy rate fell for the first time in nearly two years last quarter. Zentil said at least three more “sizable” office transactions are expected to close in the resurgent Ottawa market before 2021 is out.

He said the capital’s “really solid fundamentals” make it a “great hedge” for investors who might be skittish about sinking big money into more volatile markets.

“That seems to be a theme that is driving more and more investment activity to Ottawa,” he said, adding he expects that trend to continue.

“When we look at what’s on the docket for 2022, it’s going to be another really busy start to the year, with office (deals) playing a big role in that investment activity.”

Other notable Ottawa real estate transactions
  • Constitution Square – $480,000,000 (2017)
  • Former Nortel campus at 3500 Carling Ave. – $208,000,000 (2010)
  • Minto Place (50% interest) – $188,000,000 (2017)
  • 200 Kent St. – $143,400,000 (2012)
  • Chateau Laurier – $120,000,000 (2013)
  • 100 Kent St. – $111,000,000 (2016)
  • 1600 James Naismith Dr. & 1595 Telesat Crt. – $80,000,000 (2011)
  • 234 Laurier Ave. (50% interest) – $75,750,000 (2014)
  • Investors Group portfolio – $64,875,000 (2015)
Source: Juteau Johnson Comba Inc.

https://www.obj.ca/article/real-esta...ottawa-history
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  #136  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2022, 12:52 AM
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Lansdowne, IBM properties acquired as flurry of Ottawa office deals continues

By: David Sali, OBJ
Published: Jan 10, 2022 4:13pm EST


Two of Canada’s leading real estate firms have boosted their local office portfolios with a pair of acquisitions worth a combined $87 million – prompting an Ottawa brokerage to predict that the new year will pick up right where a frothy 2021 left off.

In the latest in a string of transactions in the National Capital Region over the past few months, Montreal-based BTB Real Estate Investment Trust announced Monday it has purchased the office component of two properties at Lansdowne Park from the Minto Group for $38.1 million.

The class-A buildings facing Bank Street were constructed in 2015 as part of a redevelopment project that saw the construction of hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office and retail space at Lansdowne Park as well as the makeover of the 40-acre site’s stadium and arena.

Covering a total of about 116,000 leasable square feet, the space is spread across six storeys at 979 Bank St. and a smaller building to the south at 1031 Bank St. The retail portions of the properties were not part of the deal.

The space is 95 per cent leased with an average weighted term of more than five years, according to CBRE, which brokered the deal. Tenants include BMO Nesbitt Burns, executive search firm Boyden, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and cybersecurity software company Field Effect.

Nico Zentil, CBRE Ottawa’s vice-president of capital markets, said the properties’ proximity to retailers such as Whole Foods and the LCBO as well as a variety of bars, restaurants and amenities like GoodLife gym make the space a “big draw” for office tenants.

In addition, he noted, there’s the cache of having a CFL park right in your own backyard.

“You can watch a football game or a concert from your office, which is pretty cool,” Zentil said.

The Lansdowne properties are the latest addition to BTB’s growing Ottawa office and industrial holdings.

The REIT, which trades on the TSX and controls more than $1 billion worth of assets across the country, now owns half a dozen office buildings across the region as well as an industrial site on Hunt Club Road.

BTB’s acquisition comes on the heels of a local office buy from another Canadian real estate player.

Toronto-based Crown Realty Partners closed a deal last month to purchase two office towers at 3755 Riverside Dr. from IBM for $49 million.

The buildings – which have served as Big Blue’s local headquarters since the tech giant acquired Cognos in 2005 – cover a total of about 268,000 square feet. The deal calls for IBM to lease the 10-storey, 183,000-square-foot tower for 10 years and the adjacent six-storey, 85,500-square-foot building for two years.

The firm made its biggest splash in late November when it partnered with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments to buy the Place de Ville office complex for $350 million – the second-largest commercial real estate deal in the city’s history.

Factoring in the Riverside Drive acquisition, Crown now manages nearly three million square feet of property in the Ottawa region. That puts it alongside heavyweights Colonnade BridgePort, Morguard, KRP Properties, the Regional Group and Apollo Property Management in the ranks of the capital’s leading landlords.

“They’re here in a big way,” said Zentil, whose firm brokered Crown’s deal with IBM as well as its purchase of Place de Ville.

Those transactions helped make 2021 a record year for CBRE’s Ottawa operations. Zentil said his office plans to start shopping several more office towers shortly and is working with a client to finalize what’s expected to be among the city’s largest-ever industrial acquisitions, a deal he expects will be sealed in the next few weeks.

“I think that overall, people feel pretty solid about the office sector,” he said. “What’s exciting is that 2022 is appearing to carry a lot of that momentum from 2021 without skipping a beat. I think we’re going to have a couple of nice deals in January that are going to set the tone for the year, which I think is encouraging.”

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Old Posted Apr 25, 2022, 9:01 PM
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How Minto built a workplace people want to come back to

Caroline Phillips, OBJ
Apr 25, 2022


Complete redesign by Ottawa-based real estate company introduces new floor plans, technologies, interactive spaces for hybrid workforce


Michael Waters, CEO of The Minto Group, next to the living plant wall, one of the features of the company's newly redesigned office space at its downtown Ottawa headquarters. Photo by Caroline Phillips

After two years of working remotely, employees of The Minto Group are now headed back to the world of water coolers. What awaits them, though, is a brand new office oasis filled with plants, singing birds and a touchless environment that promotes physical distancing and capacity control while breaking down silos and fostering collaboration.

Once it became clear that the pandemic had changed the traditional workplace forever, the Canadian real estate company started reimagining, as early as November 2020, what its drab downtown Ottawa office space could look like for the future hybrid workplace.

Bye-bye, cramped cubicles.

“We wanted to really make a statement about who we are as a company,” said Michael Waters, CEO of The Minto Group, of the complete office makeover. “If we’re inviting people back, we’re not inviting them back to the same old, same old. We’re making that commitment to them and putting our money where our mouth is.”

Minto started its renovations in early July 2021, working through COVID-19, supply-chain disruptions, logistical challenges and the Freedom Convoy street closures, before reaching substantial completion March 18.

Minto, which builds homes and manages multi-residential and commercial properties across the country, as well as in South Carolina and Florida, is based in Ottawa. Its headquarters are at 180 Kent St. in the Minto Place building.

Leading the Ottawa office renovation has been JP St-Amand, director of commercial operations at Minto, with a team of his colleagues. Being project manager was like conducting an orchestra, said St-Amand of working with designers, engineers, contractors, furniture suppliers, painters, signage vendors and others.

“It’s like I had all these musicians and they were all excellent at what they do, but bringing 42 different vendors together and trying to have them all play the same tune at the same time was a challenge.”

The completely remodeled office space is inspired by Minto’s eco-friendly tree logo. Particularly striking are the 2,500 plants located throughout the two floors. Of that total, 1,100 can be found on the bio wall – also known as the living wall – located at the office entrance. The calming feature is the work of Vancouver-based GSky Plant Systems.


The Minto Group has created a designated wellness room as part of the redesign of its downtown Ottawa office space. Photo by Caroline Phillips

As well, the company has added a gender-neutral washroom, on top of its accessible bathroom.

Work is still being completed on the 6,300-square-foot outdoor terrace, where staff will be able to gather, hold barbecues and play bocce.

“Speaking for myself, it’s a much more energizing environment,” said Waters. “Suffice to say, we definitely spent more than we originally conceived in the budget, but like every reno, whether you’re renovating a bathroom or a kitchen, you go in with an idea, more ideas come and you start thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if…?’”

Staff are returning to much wider hallways and fewer desks that are better spaced out. Other features include touchless tech, motion sensors, improved air circulation and UV-light sanitization. On the topic of health and safety, Minto has added a dedicated first-aid room.

Minto has reduced its total office footprint in Ottawa from 60,000 square feet to 46,000 square feet, recognizing that many of its 300-plus employees at Minto’s 180 Kent Street now have flexible work arrangements. The new space accommodates 85 assigned desks and 119 bookable workstations.

“So many of our staff tell us that they love the freedom and flexibility of working remotely, at least some days of the week,” said Waters.

Minto has increased its number of boardrooms from 12 to 26, of various sizes. The state-of-the-art spaces are all equipped for video conferencing.

It’s also added small, quiet areas – including a half-dozen soundproof phone booths – along with rooms conducive to brainstorming sessions. The stunning wall-sized landscape of a misty B.C. evergreen forest isn’t just art; it also doubles as a whiteboard.


This wall-sized photographic art of a forested landscape in British Columbia also doubles as a whiteboard for brainstorming sessions. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Minto wanted to create a workplace that could bring people together and focus on culture, collaboration and creativity, said Waters.

“JP and the team did, I think, a fantastic job reimagining the space with the thinking of the three Cs in mind.”

The new office has been well received by employees, said JoAnn Taylor, vice-president of human resources for The Minto Group.

“People are loving it because they have the best of both worlds.

“We do invest in our employees. The fact that we spent the time, money and effort to redesign the workspace, to make it a better place to come and celebrate and work together, people have been excited and appreciative of everything the company has been doing.”

Minto used Calgary-based prefab construction firm DIRTT for the timber frame that adds warmth to the office design. It worked with four different furniture vendors to promote Canadian products as much as possible, said St-Amand.

“From a logistics standpoint, if it’s in Canada, we know we can get it here. The only thing we couldn’t get in Canada was the carpet. It sat for several weeks in a port in Belgium because they had a shortage in shipping containers.”

Minto’s new office also pays a respectful nod to the company’s nearly 70-year history. It was founded in Ottawa in 1955 by brothers Gilbert, Irving, Lorry and Louis Greenberg. In fact, there’s furniture from the 1950s on display in the vintage-styled room that’s appropriately called The Roots.


The Minto Group has just finished a complete office redesign that offers its employees greater flexibility and opportunities for collaboration in a post-pandemic hybrid work environment. Photo by Caroline Phillips


JP St-Amand, project manager of Minto Group's Ottawa office renovations, is flanked by Minto's director of communications, Anne Murphy (left), and its vice president of human resources, JoAnn Taylor, at company headquarters at 180 Kent St. Photo by Caroline Phillips

https://obj.ca/article/local/how-min...want-come-back
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Old Posted Apr 27, 2022, 8:52 PM
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This is great news! This location has a lot of potential with the pedestrian overpass to Queensview station and will hopefully turn a lot of empty parking into something useful.
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Old Posted Apr 27, 2022, 11:41 PM
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Still miss when there was the Loblaws at one end and IKEA the other...
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