Mountain Equipment Co-op expansion | ?m | 2 fl | Proposed

[rocketphish]

It seems that MEC has acquired a couple of neighbouring parcels, and is set to grow:

Mountain Equipment Co-op proposes to construct a new two-storey addition to an existing two-storey retail store and demolish two smaller buildings on the lot west of the current store and expand the parking area.

The development application page is here:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__78NPLE

Here's the site in question:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5434550261_fdf264db20_b.jpg

[ThaLoveDocta]

It seems that MEC has acquired a couple of neighbouring parcels, and is set to grow:

Mountain Equipment Co-op proposes to construct a new two-storey addition to an existing two-storey retail store and demolish two smaller buildings on the lot west of the current store and expand the parking area.

The development application page is here:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__78NPLE

Here's the site in question:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5434550261_fdf264db20_b.jpg

Watch out SAIL here we come???

[harls]

If I remember correctly, one of those buildings is home to a place that sells roof racks for cars??

That parking lot is always a nightmare... they almost need a traffic cop in there on weekends.

[Kitchissippi]

I doubt they would demolish the Richmond Road retail storefronts, as that would be really unpopular with the community. The two buildings they are talking about demolishing are probably the house and storage structure on the southwest corner of the property

[agl]

Actually I'm prett sure they will be removing those storefronts on Richmond Road. I believe the building addition will extend onto the parking lot west of the existing structure, so there needs to be an access point for cars from Richmond Road and additional parking provided to make up for the loss, plus even more spaces due to the increase in store size.

I don't think we'll be seeing a footprint increase to the scale of Sail, but I imagine if a NIMBY or two saw the above image with the red outline around the entire property, they would start screaming up and down thinking that's the outline for the expanded store.

[m3i6]

I doubt they would demolish the Richmond Road retail storefronts, as that would be really unpopular with the community. The two buildings they are talking about demolishing are probably the house and storage structure on the southwest corner of the property

Those two stores are sitting on what will be the new parking lot.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5070507&postcount=278

[rocketphish]

MEC planning major expansion in Westboro

By Maria Cook, The Ottawa Citizen, February 13, 2012

OTTAWA - The Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Westboro, a pioneer of green design and construction in Ottawa, has donated several trees and its climbing wall as it prepares to build a two-storey addition.

Construction of a 10,000-square-foot extension in the west parking lot is set to start at the end of February. Completion is expected in September.

"We’ve been bulging at the seams for a number of years," says store manager Colleen Mooney. "Since we built this store, we’re now carrying a broad selection of bicycles and running shoes and we can’t fit it all in anymore."

The Richmond Road store, which opened in 2000, is smaller than Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) outlets in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. "We cannot carry the whole MEC assortment," she says.

MEC is part of a national network of stores that sells outdoor clothing and equipment. It charges a $5 membership fee and calls customers members.

The new section will house an expanded bike shop and enlarged children and youth department. The old space will be reconfigured and renovated. There will be more gear for yoga and road running (as opposed to trail running), more and larger change rooms and more rental equipment such as canoes, kayaks and cross-country skis.

"We really want to promote active lifestyles," says Mooney. "A lot of our members do many different things. They might go climbing on the weekend and during the week they run or do yoga."

To maximize retail space, MEC recently gave its 30-foot climbing wall to the Dovercourt Recreation Centre.

There will be a new 500-square-foot community room available for use by outdoors and environmental groups. MEC currently offers space after-hours in the footwear department. "We want to become a real community hub for people who are interested in pursuing outdoor active lifestyles," says Mooney.

The addition will increase the size of the simple, square two-storey building to about 39,000 square feet. Besides retail space, there is a warehouse and offices.

The project involves demolition of two buildings to the west which MEC owns a store that housed Extreme Pita and Auto Racks and a house behind it on Danforth Avenue to make way for a new parking lot.

Much of the landscaping will be replanted. However, six trees - a large honey locust, three jack pine and two white spruce - were deemed unable to withstand two transplants (a temporary one during construction and a new permanent location.)

These were donated to the City of Ottawa and planted in Wisteria Park in the Uplands area. It cost more than $1,000 to move each tree.

"They went to great expense," said Ottawa landscape architect James Lennox. "It wasn’t about saving money. It was about doing the right thing. Even the employees wanted to know what would happen to the trees."

MEC will pay to water the trees for a year to help them survive.

When it opened, the Ottawa MEC was the first retail building in the country to comply with Canada’s C2000 Green Building Standard. This standard is based on energy efficiency, minimal environmental impact, occupant health and comfort and functional performance.

Its building consumes 50 per cent less energy than a similar building and was built mainly with salvaged materials.

For instance, many components of the grocery store originally located on the site were reused, such as structural steel columns, beams and joists, the terrazzo floor and parts of the foundation. The ground-floor timber frame is made of Douglas fir posts and beams, recovered from old log booms in the St. Lawrence River.

One unusual feature is a wall insulated with straw bale, a highly-efficient natural, renewable resource. The wall has a viewing portal so visitors can see inside.

The original building was designed by the team of Ottawa architects Linda Chapman and Chris Simmonds.

"At the time it was among the most advanced buildings in the city for environmental standards," says Chapman, whose firm is overseeing the addition.

"Environmentally-friendly buildings are becoming standard for most corporations now," she says. "It’s still leading edge from an environmental point of view, but we ain’t the only ones anymore. Lots of people are doing it now."

The building tries to visibly demonstrate the company’s interest in sustainability. The addition is designed to blend with the existing building and uses the same materials.

It will be clad in galvanized steel and cement board. The heavy-timber canopy, which gives the big-box building a friendlier street presence and scale, will be extended along Richmond Road.

Two elements will be moved to the new section: the diagonal front entrance, and the bay window above it in which children sit and look out onto the street.

"It’s very much in keeping with the original store," says Chapman. "There’s a timber-frame structure on the ground floor and the second floor is steel beams, steel columns and steel open-web joists." The main floor will be concrete and the second floor will be wood.

"It’s carrying on the same theme as the original building where it’s super-insulated, deconstructable and uses very durable materials that can be recycled at the end of their lifespan," she says.

The use of energy-efficient systems mean that although the building will be larger it will operate on the same amount of energy.

The cistern that collects rain for watering plants will be replaced. A new heated cistern will operate year-round and provide water for toilet flushing to reduce indoor water use. "They decided they needed to step it up a notch," says Chapman.

There will be just one new parking space for a total of 63. The City of Ottawa required 67 spaces but there isn’t room so MEC will pay cash-in-lieu for four spots.

"The parking lot is rarely full except on busy Saturdays and Sundays," says Mooney. "We do encourage members to come by public transit."

The bike racks will be able to fit up to 80 bikes as opposed to a maximum of 50 today. The parking lot will have two new electric-car charging stations and reserve two spots for car-sharing and one for hybrid vehicles.

The store will also be the western depot for Right Bike, a bike-share program that aims to encourage cycling between the Wellington West, Hintonburg and Westboro neighbourhoods.

Lennox, who was the landscape architect from the start, will continue use of native plant materials, such as raspberry and serviceberry bushes, and local river-washed stone as mulch in the planting beds. Pines and spruces will shade the western side of building, while vines on the south will provide shade in summer and solar gain warmth in winter.

The big red rock by the front entrance will be moved, but the three towering rocks by the front door will probably break when dislodged and will need to be replaced.

The store will be open during construction.

"MEC has been one of the main draws to Westboro Village," says Natalie Hanson, executive director of the Westboro Village Business Improvement Area. "The bigger building with more services will draw people from all over the region and, draw more customers to the area."

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/planning+major+expansion+Westboro/6144682/story.html

[MountainView]

And the design pictures that we all love seeing!

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/6144683.bin?size=620x400s

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/6144684.bin?size=620x400s

[TransitZilla]

And the design pictures that we all love seeing!

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/6144683.bin?size=620x400s

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/6144684.bin?size=620x400s

It's a little disappointing that they're just making the blank wall even longer. The bike parking is nice, and does help animate the front of the store is somewhat, but given the size of this thing now, another entrance would have been nice.

[McKellarDweller]

I agree - the diagrams certainly make that steel-clad middle wall fronting on Richmond out of place for a prime Traditional Mainstreet strip. I hope they do something to bring more visual interest, like a plant feature or something.

What a pile of $$$ they will have in this block - though not surprising. They're probably paying cash for the whole project.

Two asides: 1) the diagram missed that street meat guy who's always in front of MEC

2) My car is parked in that aerial photo :D

[Kitchissippi]

M.E.H., what an uncreative addition, it is just a stretched version of the old building. The loss of two more traditional storefronts for a parking lot is not a good thing for the village. They could have built behind those facades with a second storey spanning across. Bikes, kayaks and bulky equipment, as well as bike repair and rental could have had a separate ground floor entrance, sort of similar to the way the Canadian Tire on Carling has its auto repair area. Since they charge for parking, they could also build multi-level garage that makes it more obvious that it is a pay lot.

[MountainView]

It's a little disappointing that they're just making the blank wall even longer. The bike parking is nice, and does help animate the front of the store is somewhat, but given the size of this thing now, another entrance would have been nice.

Stores are moving away from multiple entrances because it is more difficult to catch people stealing... just look at the Superstore, the entrance at the corner of Kirkwood has a sign that says please use other entrance.

[S-Man]

If I need something outdoorsy, I will continue to ignore MEC and just go to Lebaron's on Merivale. Bonus: they sell guns, if that's your bag.

[eemy]

While ostensibly both outdoor retailers, Le Baron and MEC serve very different markets.

[amanfromnowhere]

Am I only one who doesn't see ANY difference between ariel pic and those renderings? Are those 3 big boulders the only change?

[MountainView]

Am I only one who doesn't see ANY difference between ariel pic and those renderings? Are those 3 big boulders the only change?

Those boulders are actually already there... The new building is essentially an expansion/stretch of the current building! Current building has 4 wood beams holding up that pergola-ish overhang, and the rendering shows 6! (which is why we conclude that it is a simple stretch of the current building). And don't forget those green flaps they are also added that they stole from the Algonquin College construction site!

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=MEC&hl=en&ll=45.391458,-75.755281&spn=0.024321,0.066047&sll=45.396491,-75.740347&sspn=0.024319,0.066047&hq=MEC&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=45.391388,-75.755431&panoid=DY8yJIXRSVoyeI8Cp60YOA&cbp=12,109.5,,0,5.26

I'm wondering where the temporary entrance will be during construction!?

[Uhuniau]

There is a fine line in some cases betwen being a block-animator and a block-killer.

This expansion will transition MEC from one to the other. Pity.

[eemy]

That block is going to shrivel and decline because of this. This is the death knell for Westboro, folks. As this block dies, it will be replaced by other unfriendly toxic buildings, driving people away and destroying the entire neighbourhood. Soon, all that Ottawa will be left with is Smart Centres and cul-de-sacs. Which is no less than the old-fashioned weanies stuck in the sixties deserve.






How did I do? Did I get the bitter hyperbole right?

Honestly, this kind of rhetoric is no better than Ken Grey going on about extremification.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

An extension of the building?!

http://arch.413chan.net/Jesus_Christ_how_horrifying-(n1293125748065).jpg

[Ottawan]

That block is going to shrivel and decline because of this. This is the death knell for Westboro, folks. As this block dies, it will be replaced by other unfriendly toxic buildings, driving people away and destroying the entire neighbourhood. Soon, all that Ottawa will be left with is Smart Centres and cul-de-sacs. Which is no less than the old-fashioned weanies stuck in the sixties deserve.






How did I do? Did I get the bitter hyperbole right?

Honestly, this kind of rhetoric is no better than Ken Grey going on about extremification.

I don't know... Uhuniau is definitely prone to going overboard, but I think he made a fair point on this one. The expansion could have been better thought out and done in a way that animates the street (and does not eliminate storefronts for parking). A critical eye can be helpful sometimes.

[gjhall]

I don't know... Uhuniau is definitely prone to going overboard, but I think he made a fair point on this one. The expansion could have been better thought out and done in a way that animates the street (and does not eliminate storefronts for parking). A critical eye can be helpful sometimes.

I have to agree here as well. While I don't think it will kill the Village, MEC gets a free pass on good urbanism for some reason. They have limited street interaction at this site, and another design could have kept parking at the back and added other retailer street frontages with MEC space on floors 2 (and maybe 3).

So not ideal, but not a deal-breaker either.

[eemy]

I completely agree that it's not street-friendly design. And any notion that MEC was committed to good urbanism went out the window with new stores in Burlington and Barrie. The hyperbole is that this will destroy the block.

[amanfromnowhere]

From Andrea Tomkins twitter:

http://p.twimg.com/Am1HuWaCAAARbsw.jpg

http://twitter.com/#!/missfish/status/174874822147440640/photo/1

[amanfromnowhere]

Broccolini created a new page for this project with some new renderings:

http://www.broccolini.com/UploadedImages/mec3.jpg


http://www.broccolini.com/Broccolini_Project_Detail.aspx?ProjectID=197&All=No&Green=No&Current=Yes