Central condo expansion.
This graphic shows the proposed design for the next stage in a condo development in Centretown that planners and councillors hope will bring a residential character back to the area around Bank Street and Gladstone Avenue.
Courtesy of the City of Ottawa
CENTRETOWN - Loosening up on Centretown heritage district restrictions will help breath new life into the area around Bank Street and Gladstone Avenue, the city’s planning committee heard on May 24.
The committee was considering approvals for the third phase of the Central Condominiums development, the first of which includes the façade from the historic Metropoliton Bible Church at the front of the building. The portion the planning committee approved last week, Central 3, is a nine-storey building at 340 McLeod Street that will attach to Central 2 on Bank Street.
Adding another building to the modern-looking condo development likely wouldn’t jive with the historic fabric of other parts of the Centretown Heritage Conservation District, but it makes sense in this location, said Sally Coutts, the city’s heritage planner.
“This is a part of the district where heritage has been undermined,” she told members of the committee on May 24.
While the Central Condominiums development has a different flavour than some of the older buildings in the vicinity, Coutts said it will help achieve one goal of the heritage district: “Part of the purpose of the district is to make McLeod a residential street again where it has been undermined in the last 40 years,” she said.
Many of the homes in the district were built between 1890 and 1914 to accommodate an expanding civil service within walking distance of Parliament Hill and government offices.
The development is also a good fit with the neighbourhood because it uses “visual cues” such as brick colours to integrate into the streetscape, without mimicking a historic design.
The rezoning boosted the site’s height allowance from six to nine storeys. The Centretown Citizens’ Community Association was pleased that the developer had made changes to the project, including stepping the height down to ensure the portions of the building facing neighbouring homes would be about five storeys tall.
Coun. Diane Holmes (Somerset Ward) commented that the project is generally positive and of good design that will enliven the street, but she cautioned that a seniors’ residence that backs onto the new development might be adversely affected by the height of the building.
The building will contain approximately 162 units.