An Ottawa-based developer is moving forward on plans for two downtown highrises with space reserved for daycare and retail uses.
Claridge Homes recently filed plans with the city to expand a mixed-use community development close to Pimisi Station on the LRT line and a stone’s throw from LeBreton Flats, a long-vacant swath of federally owned land west of Ottawa’s downtown core.
The new proposal seeks to add a 25-storey condo building and a 30-storey rental apartment tower to the burgeoning East Flats community, which already includes two residential buildings eight and 13 storeys tall.
Combined, the two proposed buildings will add more than 600 housing units to the block bound by Lloyd, Fleet and Lett streets.
The proposal also includes a podium structure with 380 square metres of daycare space and 670 square metres reserved for retail uses.
Claridge received council’s blessing in 2018 for the East Flats project — a development that will ultimately see nearly 2,000 residential units across five buildings as tall as 45 storeys — but the new proposal looks to build out the highrises in a different order.
Before it can proceed with the towers, Claridge will need permission to shift development holds on the new site to the block of land bordered by Booth, Lloyd and Fleet streets, where it was originally slated to build next.
The city requires developers to prove the site is ready to handle proposed intensification before holds can be removed on land.
The next phase of the development would include an underground parking garage with 347 vehicle parking spaces and 470 spots for bicycles.
Claridge Homes’ East Flats site sits between a series of high-profile developments slated for the area in the years ahead.
The site of Ottawa’s new central library branch, a joint project with Library and Archives Canada, is just east of the planned development while the Zibi mixed-use community is under construction to the north along the Ottawa River.
The National Capital Commission is also gearing up for another shot at developing LeBreton Flats, which sits west of Claridge’s site. The Crown corporation unveiled its master plan last fall to build out a series of residential and commercial developments as well as public spaces and a potential major events centre.
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