Tamarack Flora [488-500 Bank St] | 31m | 9fl | Completed

[waterloowarrior]

http://www.househunting.ca/Homes/Buy...913/story.html

Straddling McLeod Street at Bank, the nine-storey Central I condo (that’s the building incorporating the facade of the former Metropolitan Bible Church) is built, Central II is under construction and sales are underway for the third phase, called Hideaway. Wex has plans for a fourth condo, to be called C4 and built on the site of European Glass & Paint at Bank and Flora Street and has other properties in the area slated for future development.

The three-phase Central project brings 544 open-concept, urban lofts to Bank and McLeod. C4 will add another 150 or so condos. Wex sees the community as having a very European look, with mid-rise buildings that maintain a connection to the street.

Urban Capital does plan to do more than just stamp the area with a name. It will start with a kick-off event at the James Street Pub July 10. And to keep residents engaged, the developer is creating an interactive website (southcentralottawa.com) that will include historic photos of the neighbourhood that the public can add to, a blog for coming events and features on area businesses and residents “just to give their story of why they should be in South Central and why it’s so great … just to keep it very neighbourhood-focused,” says Taya Cavanagh, Urban Capital’s development director.

Originally Posted by rakerman

Here's the Bank & Flora sign


DSCF3157 by rakerman, on Flickr

South Central is not just advertising for Central 1, 2, 3 (which are pretty much all sold). It's for one or more new condo projects in the area.

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Gosh, let's get some pictures up for this one!

Map:


Siteplan:


Render:

[McC]

Wow, I was sure that James St was their next one, but this and "other properties in the area slated for development"? wow. Also, big respect for sticking to the mid rise mainstreet form in the area.

[archie-tect]

C4 perhaps not quite the right name for a condo in South Central.

[archie-tect]

While I certainly appreciate that Urban Capital's condos tend to be more urban orientated than other developers with stronger relationships with the street, it would be nice if they could spice things up a bit and make the multitude of buildings within the same two blocks different aesthetically to get a more organic or heterogenious streetscape.

[McC]

Originally Posted by archie-tect

c4 perhaps not quite the right name for a condo in south central.

kaboom!

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by archie-tect

While I certainly appreciate that Urban Capital's condos tend to be more urban orientated than other developers with stronger relationships with the street, it would be nice if they could spice things up a bit and make the multitude of buildings within the same two blocks different aesthetically to get a more organic or heterogenious streetscape.

You hit the nail right on the head with that one.

[gjhall]

Want to see some crazy anti-condo protests laced with class warfare? http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...948/story.html

bizarre.

[McC]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Want to see some crazy anti-condo protests laced with class warfare? http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...948/story.html

bizarre.

I just stared dumbly at my screen for a while after reading that this morning, nothing to say but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrb2Oc6naDI

[Nepean]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Want to see some crazy anti-condo protests laced with class warfare? http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...948/story.html

bizarre.

I don't even know where to begin with this protest. This group claims to be "progressive" when in fact they are Big-R reactionaries. They pretend to defend the downtrodden, when in reality they are fighting to keep strangers from moving into their neighbourhood. If you disagree with them then you are a rich, yuppie scum. Nevermind that urban densification is good for the environment, increases social interaction and promotes local business.

Much better to keep Bank Street filled with empty parking lots, a boarded up Somerset House, and a general seedy feel that provides no incentive for families, young professionals, the retired (you know, the community) to move there.

This protest reminds me of the Friends of Lansdowne who want to keep the Glebe for Glebites. Of course, the FOL don't call their opponents rich scum (that would be essentially insulting themselves), but they have no qualms about questioning the moral integrity of anyone who dares to suggest that Lansdowne should be redeveloped. Both of these groups should get together and write a book called, Urban Segregation: How to Keep Outsiders Away From Your Neighbourhood.

[citizen j]

Their second book in the series could be Pathologization: 12 Easy Steps to Demonizing People Who Aren't Like You.

[McC]

Originally Posted by Nepean

Both of these groups should get together and write a book called, Urban Segregation: How to Keep Outsiders Away From Your Neighbourhood.

must admit that having lived the past 6 years in a couple of popular cut-throughs for Gatineau-bound commuters (also known as "neighbourhoods") I might be interested in one or two of the chapters in that book.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Nepean

I don't even know where to begin with this protest. This group claims to be "progressive" when in fact they are Big-R reactionaries.

A difference without a distinction...

[McC]

Originally Posted by archie-tect

While I certainly appreciate that Urban Capital's condos tend to be more urban orientated than other developers with stronger relationships with the street, it would be nice if they could spice things up a bit and make the multitude of buildings within the same two blocks different aesthetically to get a more organic or heterogenious streetscape.

this article (again about Toronto), gets at this issue: the risk of a city increasingly composed of same-looking condos on top of same-looking ShoppersDrugMarts...
http://www.thestar.com/yourhome/real...rate-mix-right

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by McC

this article (again about Toronto), gets at this issue: the risk of a city increasingly composed of same-looking condos on top of same-looking ShoppersDrugMarts...
http://www.thestar.com/yourhome/real...rate-mix-right

Part of the appeal of living in an urban area is the ability to have a walking-oriented lifestyle, which is really hard to do if you can't find day-to-day items nearby. People may knock coffee shops, drug stores, dry cleaners, liquor stores, etc. but that is where people want to go for their day to day errands. Traditionally, many parts of central Ottawa have been car dependent because people couldn't find grocery stores, drug stores, liquor stores, etc. nearby. These new condos with their day-to-day stores have led to major improvements in the walkability of some of these neighbourhoods.

[Postmaster]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Part of the appeal of living in an urban area is the ability to have a walking-oriented lifestyle, which is really hard to do if you can't find day-to-day items nearby. People may knock coffee shops, drug stores, dry cleaners, liquor stores, etc. but that is where people want to go for their day to day errands. Traditionally, many parts of central Ottawa have been car dependent because people couldn't find grocery stores, drug stores, liquor stores, etc. nearby. These new condos with their day-to-day stores have led to major improvements in the walkability of some of these neighbourhoods.

I think the grocery store is a major point. I haven't seen many buildings with this idea, but when I stayed in downtown Chicago we had a grocery store nearby at the base of a tall office tower. Very useful when you don't want to drive somewhere. I remember thinking what a great idea that was, since I'd never seen it here - admitedly I've never lived in the core.

If they integrated the necessities into a few podiums in a given area, they would almost completely negate the need for vehicle transport. Who needs to drive anywhere when you have groceries, an LCBO, a pharmacy and shopping nearby?

[McC]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Part of the appeal of living in an urban area is the ability to have a walking-oriented lifestyle, which is really hard to do if you can't find day-to-day items nearby. People may knock coffee shops, drug stores, dry cleaners, liquor stores, etc. but that is where people want to go for their day to day errands. Traditionally, many parts of central Ottawa have been car dependent because people couldn't find grocery stores, drug stores, liquor stores, etc. nearby. These new condos with their day-to-day stores have led to major improvements in the walkability of some of these neighbourhoods.

Absolutely, those are the essentials if you want a liveable, walkable neighbourhood; but I think the tricky part is that you need to insert/replace/maintain all of those staples without displacing too many of the other kinds of businesses that make an area vibrant, distinct, and interesting (at least in the short term, because as the spacing article on Ossington I linked to said, there's an inevitability to the evolution from down and out, to gritty, to funky, to hip, to yuppy-saturated, if a neighbourhood continues to develop successfully).

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Want to see some crazy anti-condo protests laced with class warfare? http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...948/story.html

bizarre.

I think sometimes communities, or to be exact, some individuals in a community, don't know why they are offended by a development. They just react on some visceral level and then seek some way to rationalize their objections.

The backlash in Centretown seems mostly to be caused by the attempt to rebrand the neighbourhood as "South Central". Some of these residents obviously have a deep attachment to their neighbourhood and somehow feel it's being taken away from them.

It is a clumsy rebranding attempt and the developer only makes it worse when they say they've consulted some local businesses and got their ok. Local businesses are part of the community, but they are only part of it. There are church, sports, social organizations that feel they are the community and they can rightly wonder why they weren't consulted. The developers would have been smart to work with them, funding a couple of youth sports teams or existing community event, organizing a food drive, etc. It's simple stuff, but it shows that you want to be part of the community rather than just draw a line around a couple of blocks on a map an market it.

So it's a public relations blunder to begin with, and it stirs up wrong headed protests like this.

[amanfromnowhere]

Are there any renderings for this project?

[S-Man]

The Claridge condos on Nepean and Metcalfe have it right with a ground floor grocery store (Sobey's, with a Wine Rack, I have to assume) planned for a majorly dense area of town. Of course, urban planner extraordinaire Diane Holmes was against it because "where are the people going to park?".....

As much as south Bank needs some more amenities, there are a few little groceries on Gladstone and Hartmann's. Not perfect, but okay, and a Shoppers at Bank and Gladstone.

What needs amenities desperately is the Preston/Carling development. There is NOTHING that can be walked to in the area. Just restaurants and a store in a government bulding that closes at 5. When I lived on Champagne the closest anything was (and is) the Giant Tiger on Wellington. It's either that or the Food Basics at Hampton Park, which necessitates having a car. It was crazy - you lived on Preston, but couldn't buy even a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze.

I live on the other side now, closer to Bronson, and there's a little neighbourhood grocery st Bell St. and Henry St. Unknown except to locals, but it's a godsend. The people moving into the Soho's and other future developments around there need to have a place to get groceries and booze without getting into the car. The empty lot at Aberdeen is an obvious spot for a mixed-use development with grocery store (centrally-located for the neighbourhood), but so far I haven't heard a peep about anything proposed.

[J.OT13]

Urban Capital proposes a 9 storey, 95 unit building at Bank and Flora.

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__80FK0R

http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Im...02-12-0092.PDF