[rocketphish]

Arnon Corporation is proposing to construct an office development consisting of a 15-storey office building (56 m, plus five (5) metres for the mechanical penthouse) on the southern portion of the site (Tower One) and a 12-storey office building (45 m, plus five (5) metres for the mechanical penthouse) on the northern portion of the site (Tower Two).

A total of 800 parking spaces will service the office development, of which 742 will be underground spaces and 58 will be surface spaces. Four levels of underground parking are proposed. The parking garage will be accessed via the site’s southernmost driveway off Champagne Avenue.


Development docs:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7OIG96


On a map:

http://wwuploads.googlepages.com/855CarlingAvenue.jpg
(credit: waterloowarrior)


The siteplan:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3566/3697203007_bc79950f0c_o_d.jpg


Renderings:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3463/3697202785_e5bbd13c20_o_d.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3697202873_28921dde19_o_d.jpg

[O-Town Hockey]

Great projects popping up all over for Carling! This area is finally getting the development it deserves considering it's right between three awesome neighbourhoods (Civic Hospital, Little Italy, Glebe) and is adjacent to Dow's Lake and public transit. This end of Carling is getting close to reaching the critical mass it needs to make the eventual development of a strip of the North end of the Experimental Farm inevitable. There is much talk at the Ottawa Hospital about moving the Civic to another location, likely closer to Hunt Club/Barhaven. I, personally, would like to see them develop a large plot of the Experimental Farm directly accross the road from the current hospital location. They could then develop the Civic site into some really interesting towers/high density residential that wouldn't be any more invasive to the surrounding neighbourhoods than they current 8 storey hospital buildings.

[Mille Sabords]

There is grass in front of the Carling building, and there shouldn't. This should be designed as a Mainstreet, with a concrete-to-concrete relationship between a retail ground floor and a widened sidewalk with trees. Otherwise, yeah, good project.

[rocketphish]

There is grass in front of the Carling building, and there shouldn't. This should be designed as a Mainstreet, with a concrete-to-concrete relationship between a retail ground floor and a widened sidewalk with trees. Otherwise, yeah, good project.

There is a road-widening allowance running along the Carling edge of the site, and every expectation that it will some day be used. So I doubt the developer is going to invest in any fancy/expensive hardscaping knowing that it will be torn up and replaced with another lane of traffic (or, if we're lucky an LRT line).

I also noticed this attement in the docs:
"The Concept Plan, which illustrates an office development, represents only one option for use of the property. A residential or mixed-use (office/residential) projects are also appropriate and may be pursued by the owner."

Either way, it's a great site and a pretty decent proposal so far.

[theKpa]

Good to see some development by the Carling O-Train Station.

[umbria27]

There is grass in front of the Carling building, and there shouldn't. This should be designed as a Mainstreet, with a concrete-to-concrete relationship between a retail ground floor and a widened sidewalk with trees. Otherwise, yeah, good project.

Hear, hear. High-rises don't need lawns. Put some pedestrian and bike friendly pavement there.

You know, if development along Carling in front of the Park continues like this, we might get a nice mini-Central Park type effect. One of the things that makes NY Central Park so dramatic is that hard line of building's up against it. Now Carling just needs some interesting silhouettes on the skyline. Dare we dream?

[Dado]

Good to see some development by the Carling O-Train Station.

Indeed... but who's protecting exit paths for LRT from the O-Train corridor up to the Carling corridor? This site would be a good one and a station could possibly be combined with it. If this site isn't reserved then the City will have to negotiate with the NCC for use of the field opposite.

I'm not too concerned with the grass. For one, it's really a massing diagram not a detailed landscaping plan. For another, as mentioned, it is a reserved corridor. Take a look at the new Canadian Tire on Carling at Clyde/Cole - it has grass out front but it stands out like such a sore thumb that it's obvious it's for RoW protection.

[Richard Eade]

Indeed... but who's protecting exit paths for LRT from the O-Train corridor up to the Carling corridor? This site would be a good one and a station could possibly be combined with it. If this site isn't reserved then the City will have to negotiate with the NCC for use of the field opposite...
I agree. There is so much talk about "integrating" the rapid transit system into new surrounding TOD but it seems that this design doesn't even try to make any connections to the station right beside it. The City is failing miserably at encouraging any integration.

As Dado suggests, the link from Carling to the O-Train corridor could run under this building. Or, at least, the ground and lower levels of the building could be retail, flowing directly onto the train platform. This development could at least widen out that section of the trench for future double-tracking.

The biggest problem I see is the utter lack of a long-term plan for this city’s public transit. If a proper plan existed, developers could incorporate its elements into their builds and the plan would get completed piece by piece, over time, without the need for huge public expenditures.

[cityguy]

Great addition to the area.Let's hope it gets built.

[Radster]

Not bad, and there is enough room left over around the perimiter to make changes/additions when the time comes for transit expansion.



Is there another thread on the proposed condo at 500 Preston? (sorry too lazy to search at the moment!)
.
.
.
ahhhh.... found it with quick google search :

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=140090

no news on that in about a year, even though it has been approved.

[Davis137]

That would also be an awesome addition to that neighbourhood!

[Mille Sabords]

Indeed... but who's protecting exit paths for LRT from the O-Train corridor up to the Carling corridor? This site would be a good one and a station could possibly be combined with it. If this site isn't reserved then the City will have to negotiate with the NCC for use of the field opposite.

I'm not too concerned with the grass. For one, it's really a massing diagram not a detailed landscaping plan. For another, as mentioned, it is a reserved corridor. Take a look at the new Canadian Tire on Carling at Clyde/Cole - it has grass out front but it stands out like such a sore thumb that it's obvious it's for RoW protection.

Yeah, and while we wait for the road widening to actually be taken, we have all this shitty grass collecting garbage and turning to mud. While we know that the average life span of hardscaping elements that get used as a sidewalk are 15-20 years in the best of cases (example: Beechwood Avenue sidewalks). So, sorry, the road widening excuse is a lame one. We cannot have a 25-year "temporary" landscape. We have to use it now, so it must look good now. And it must be made to look good in 25 years when the road is widened.

The Canadian Tire on Carling is a prime example of a shitty temporary solution that will be with us for too long. It has a partial sidewalk along the street that doesn't even go to either street corner. It's a bus platform. I'm sorry but that's amateurish. We have to live with that for how long???

[theKpa]

From OBJ:
http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/306690887831922.php

Arnon asks to double permitted density of Little Italy development site
By Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Mon, Jul 13, 2009 12:00 AM EST

A 2.3-acre surface parking lot on Carling Avenue, immediately adjacent to the O-Train tracks, could eventually host two office towers, totaling 400,000 square feet, according to documents filed with the city.

That is one of the preferred options for Arnon Corp.'s "phenomenal" Little Italy development site, which could also be used for residential or mixed office-residential projects.

Michael Casey, Arnon's vice-president of development, says discussions about the type of project are premature at this point and that the rezoning application, which he says would effectively double the allowed density of the site, is a necessary preliminary step.

Nevertheless, he acknowledges the tremendous potential of the site.

"(It's) a phenomenal piece of land that will afford incredible views over Dow's Lake," he says.

The neighbourhood has seen a flurry of construction and proposals in recent years. Earlier this decade, Colonnade constructed its second Dow's Lake Court building, adding 96,000 square feet of office space to the west of Arnon's site, and Sakto Corp. built the second and third Preston Square Towers, with a combined total of 346,000 square feet.

On the residential side, Domicile Developments is building a pair of residential condominium towers – one eight storeys and the other 10 storeys – along with a block of townhouses as part of its Merrion Square Norfolk project on Loretta Avenue, west of Preston Street, while the Fanto Group has proposed a seven-storey condominium project on Rochester Street.

Mr. Casey says the property immediately behind his site at 855 Carling Ave. has already been rezoned to accommodate heights similar to Arnon's proposed 15-storey and 12-storey office towers, which would be internally connected with a two-storey link and sit atop four storeys of underground parking.

Along with the zoning precedent, observers note the conversion of a surface parking lot – currently used by Civic Hospital employees – into a high-density development fits with municipal intensification goals, given the capacity of area infrastructure and the site's immediate proximity to the existing light-rail line.

Bruce Wolfgram, vice-president and broker at DTZ Barnicke, says he expects more office developments along city transit lines and notes the cluster of Preston Street offices – which along with the Colonnade and Sakto developments, also includes Arnon's Carling Square I and II at Carling Avenue and Rochester Street – have proven popular.

"There is very little vacancy in those buildings, if any," he says.

Kelvin Holmes, managing director at commercial real estate services firm Colliers International, says the area could emerge as "a second central business district," especially if there continues to be a lack of political will to relax height restrictions in the core.

He adds that with the all-class downtown vacancy rate sitting at a paltry 2.9 per cent, further commercial development around Preston Street would benefit private-sector tenants squeezed out of the core by the federal government.

However, he says there's a good chance that new office space would be at least partially filled by public servants.