Posted Sep 10, 2013, 3:31 AM
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Toronto
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The Corners on Main | 20.7m | 6 fl | Phase 2 U/C
This looks awesome!
Quote:
Domicile to develop Sisters’ property in Old Ottawa East
Plans will respect community design plan, bring small retailers to Old Ottawa East
Ottawa East News, Sept 3, 2013
By Laura Mueller
This preliminary sketch shows Domicile's vision for French-style buildings with retail on the ground floor and condos above at the Sisters of the Sacred Heart property at 141 Main St.
OLD OTTAWA EAST - Local developer Domicile has purchased the Sisters’ property on Main Street and plans to construct a building that brings to life the Old Ottawa East community design plan’s vision.
The plans include two buildings with ground-floor retail and around 140 condo units on the five upper floors that will mimic the size and shape of the existing convent at the Sisters of the Sacred Heart property. The 3.5-acre site is located off Main Street between Oblate Avenue and Springhurst Avenue.
“We’re really trying to respect the community that’s already there,” Said David Renfroe, Domicile’s director of business development and planning.
Domicile wants to ensure the project has the least amount of impact on neighbours who live on Springhurst, Renfroe said. “We understand the importance of this project for the overall vision of the Main Street redevelopment.”
Renfroe said the architecture will have a “French flair” with a traditional masonry façade. The units will have large windows and balconies, Renfroe said. In addition to a central park separating the two buildings, Domicile is proposing a rooftop terrace.
Domicile will present its draft plans to the neighbourhood at a community association meeting on Oct. 8 at 7:15 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, located at Main Street and Hawthorne Avenue.
Old Ottawa East Community Association president John Dance had not yet seen the plans, but the proposal sounds “excellent,” he said. Community members will watch the development with great interest because of its potential to contribute to revitalizing the Main Street commercial district, Dance said.
“We are very much in need of better commercial and more residents,” Dance said. “This seems to be exactly that.”
There will be about 1,485 square metres of retail space broken down into nine or 10 small shops that will hopefully attract local business owners, Renfroe said.
“We’re hoping for local retail and small, local businesses,” he said.
Domicile is fine working within the 20-metre height limit set out in the community design plan and secondary plan for the area, but Renfroe said he’s going to ask the city and the community whether they might be willing to add another half a foot onto the height so the retail floor can have slightly higher ceilings, making it more attractive for businesses to locate there.
“We don’t want it to be dark and claustrophobic,” Renfroe said.
If there’s no appetite for that, the zoning and CDP will be respected, Renfroe said.
Dance said he personally thinks that request is reasonable, but it’s not something the community association has discussed yet.
“It’s not the end of the world,” he said, noting Domicile was flexible in extending the width of Main Street in front of the property in order to accommodate the “complete street” vision with bicycle lanes and on-street parking.
Domicile is also looking at providing about 20 more parking spaces than required for the retail portion of the development. That would include a handful of spaces along each street frontage – on Main, Oblate and Hawthorne – that mimic street parking but are located on the property. There would be 150 underground parking spaces for residents.
So far, the initial design process has been the smoothest he’s ever seen, Renfroe said. If that continues, Domicile expects to begin pre-selling units in February of 2014 and constructing the first building next June.
As for any possible future interest in the rest of the Oblate lands adjacent to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart property, Renfroe said Domicile has had an interest in the properties since 2002 and tried to buy the Oblates land in 2007.
“Domicile has an interest to be a bigger player in the Old Ottawa East community,” he said, adding the developer is happy with what’s been happening in the community regarding the community design plan and the reconstruction of Main Street as a “complete street” with cycling tracks.
“We like the direction this area is going in,” Renfroe said.
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http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...d-ottawa-east/
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