SoBa [203 Catherine St] | 19f | Completed

[Davis137]

What are they thinking...reducing bicycle parking? Babies will be crying everywhere when they learn of this!

[McC]

Originally Posted by Davis137

What are they thinking...reducing bicycle parking? Babies will be crying everywhere when they learn of this!

This may actually be a serious issue, with reduced car parking, reduced visitor car parking, reduced bike parking, and crappy transit on Bank St, how pray tell are the future-dwellers supposed to get around town outside of their average walking distance? really, it will likely drive more business into existing surface parking lots in the area, keeping those ugly dead spaces from being redeveloped (which they should be) for many more years.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by McC

This may actually be a serious issue, with reduced car parking, reduced visitor car parking, reduced bike parking, and crappy transit on Bank St, how pray tell are the future-dwellers supposed to get around town outside of their average walking distance? really, it will likely drive more business into existing surface parking lots in the area, keeping those ugly dead spaces from being redeveloped (which they should be) for many more years.

I agree that it is a serious issue - if car parking is to be reduced (and I have no problem with that, especially in this location), bike parking should be increased if anything.

I don't agree that Bank St has bad transit. In that location users will have access to the 1 and 7, which are very frequent routes serving all sorts of destinations up and down Bank, plus the 101, which is a great cross-town route offering quick transitway connections. Just because there is no rapid transit doesn't mean that transit is crappy. And in any event, almost everything the residents could possibly need will be within a 10-15 minute walk.

[Davis137]

Realistically, I think all of those listed above are serious issues, and I was trying a lousy attempt at satirical humour...

Removing available parking in favour of height is dumb, as there will be limited parking for a location like this in the firstplace...

[McC]

Originally Posted by phil235

I don't agree that Bank St has bad transit. In that location users will have access to the 1 and 7, which are very frequent routes serving all sorts of destinations up and down Bank, .

speaking from my own experience, I used to regularly go down Bank from Sparks to the Glebe at around 6:30/7pm, not peak, but also not congested rush hour, and still a high-demand time, and unless the bus was a couple of minutes away, I would walk from Sparks to Glebe Ave without any bus ever overtaking me (and that was when the 4 also still ran down Bank, too). I also used to live on Bank, downtown, and we just walked everywhere, because the Bank St bus routes were pointless to get just about anywhere (exception: Carleton), except in the most miserable weather.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by McC

speaking from my own experience, I used to regularly go down Bank from Sparks to the Glebe at around 6:30/7pm, not peak, but also not congested rush hour, and still a high-demand time, and unless the bus was a couple of minutes away, I would walk from Sparks to Glebe Ave without any bus ever overtaking me (and that was when the 4 also still ran down Bank, too). I also used to live on Bank, downtown, and we just walked everywhere, because the Bank St bus routes were pointless to get just about anywhere (exception: Carleton), except in the most miserable weather.

Admittedly I haven't tried to take those routes since the cuts, but I've had no problem using them from the Glebe on evenings and weekends. In rush hour I have no doubt that many people will opt to walk downtown from Bank and Catherine, but it's really just 15 minutes or less to anywhere in Centretown.

[amanfromnowhere]

A new Cultural Heritage Impact Statement shows a lot of new rendered elevations:
link

btw... it's already stated as 21-storey building

[S-Man]

Huh, I always thought the site was on the Queensway side of Catherine St.... mistaken I was. Isn't there another site on that street being eyed or already bought by that developer, though?

[amanfromnowhere]

Originally Posted by S-Man

Huh, I always thought the site was on the Queensway side of Catherine St.... mistaken I was. Isn't there another site on that street being eyed or already bought by that developer, though?

it was mentioned in some article not long ago that Lamb is considering two other properities in this area (Bank/Catherine ) for future development

[waterloowarrior]

staff report - recommending approval at 76m / 23 fl
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/cit...ne%20Final.htm



they took out the request to reduce bicycle parking btw

started at 15 ended up at 23.

[Ottawan]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

staff report - recommending approval at 76m / 23 fl
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/cit...ne%20Final.htm



they took out the request to reduce bicycle parking btw

started at 15 ended up at 23.

Finally a render that shows the development in its ACTUAL context. This should be mandatory for all development applications!

Anyway: I quite like it!

Southfacing condos pose a greater risk now that it's clear that this is on the north side of Catherine (new towers on the south side are possible and likely to block the view, while it is still close enough to the Queensway (let alone Catherine) to get traffic noise). However, northfacing condos are going to have spectacular views over Centretown & towards the downtown skyline that are unlikely to be hindered in the near future.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

staff report - recommending approval at 76m / 23 fl
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/cit...ne%20Final.htm



they took out the request to reduce bicycle parking btw

started at 15 ended up at 23.

The last we heard it was 21 floors. I'm glad they've added more height. I was driving on the Queensway the other day and was thinking this building might get lost behind the office building across the street, and that they should build taller. They might as well go up to 25-28 floors.

[McC]

7-storeys seems a little tall for such a slabby podium to me, but it's an odd perspective to get a good impression from... is the the "low-hovering-helicopter" view on the rendering software?

[S-Man]

The obligatory 'It's too tall- there will be shadows' story in the Citizen:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Propose...836/story.html

[phil235]

Originally Posted by McC

7-storeys seems a little tall for such a slabby podium to me, but it's an odd perspective to get a good impression from... is the the "low-hovering-helicopter" view on the rendering software?

I don't mind the podium. I think the idea is to break up the 4-6 storey streetwall a little and perhaps frame the building across the street.

No doubt Catherine could end up feeling a bit like a canyon, but I think that is the right place for a row of higher buildings. It's never going to be pretty, but it does have great transit potential and a limited impact on the more established parts of Centretown. (And I say this as someone who lives 2 blocks from Catherine and will likely find myself in one of these terrifying shadows one day.)

I think that higher buildings even have a good possibility of mitigating the impact of the highway.

[Nepean]

Originally Posted by S-Man

The obligatory 'It's too tall- there will be shadows' story in the Citizen:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Propose...836/story.html

I am amazed how anti-developers (which is what NIMBY's essentially are) make the exact same arguments each time a new project is proposed. It's as if there is a single document of media lines that are passed from group to group, with each anti-developer organization repeating verbatim the same words as the group before them.

[amanfromnowhere]

Originally Posted by Nepean

I am amazed how anti-developers (which is what NIMBY's essentially are) make the exact same arguments each time a new project is proposed. It's as if there is a single document of media lines that are passed from group to group, with each anti-developer organization repeating verbatim the same words as the group before them.

but there is a bright side... city just ignores all that BS like this:

we are concerned that if a building triple the current zoning were approved, our solar domestic hot water system would be rendered ineffective

[Harley613]

another article in the Sun
http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/11/29/...-tower-opposed

effing diane holmes. i'm so sick and tired of it...
'has voiced her discontent about the proposed height.'

'The Centretown Citizens Community Association has written to the city saying the development is “totally out of scale” with the neighbourhood and asks for the application to be deferred until council approves a community design plan. A committee of churches which operates an emergency food centre is afraid the development would cause a parking crunch on streets.'

oooh yeah. IT'S F*#KING CENTRETOWN!!! 'CENTRE' TOWN. out of scale? how long can we keep CENTRE town SMALL town?

in other news....people who need emergency food supplies from churches drive vehicles....

sorry for the rant. fed up with stupidity.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Harley613

another article in the Sun
http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/11/29/...-tower-opposed

effing diane holmes. i'm so sick and tired of it...
'has voiced her discontent about the proposed height.'

'The Centretown Citizens Community Association has written to the city saying the development is “totally out of scale” with the neighbourhood and asks for the application to be deferred until council approves a community design plan. A committee of churches which operates an emergency food centre is afraid the development would cause a parking crunch on streets.'

oooh yeah. IT'S F*#KING CENTRETOWN!!! 'CENTRE' TOWN. out of scale? how long can we keep CENTRE town SMALL town?

in other news....people who need emergency food supplies from churches drive vehicles....

sorry for the rant. fed up with stupidity.

*headdesk*

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by Harley613

another article in the Sun
http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/11/29/...-tower-opposed

effing diane holmes. i'm so sick and tired of it...
'has voiced her discontent about the proposed height.'

'The Centretown Citizens Community Association has written to the city saying the development is “totally out of scale” with the neighbourhood and asks for the application to be deferred until council approves a community design plan. A committee of churches which operates an emergency food centre is afraid the development would cause a parking crunch on streets.'

oooh yeah. IT'S F*#KING CENTRETOWN!!! 'CENTRE' TOWN. out of scale? how long can we keep CENTRE town SMALL town?

in other news....people who need emergency food supplies from churches drive vehicles....

sorry for the rant. fed up with stupidity.

I think the city has to be very careful with the community design plan sure it may be a great idea but it worries me that citizens may have way to much say what gets built.