General Update/Rumour thread

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by McC

I think that would be Domicile's Hom (with the silly liney-bar accent on the "o"), wouldn't it?

They should have gone with Höm. Everything's more bad-ass with umlauts.

[Dado]

But that would make it sound roughly like "hmm".

Originally Posted by McC

I think that would be Domicile's Hom (with the silly liney-bar accent on the "o"), wouldn't it?

I have easy Alt+Gr access to most accents, but that one requires digging through the character selector:

Hōm

We used that accent in elementary school to learn when those letters were pronounced "long", which is a freaking misnomer anyway.

Personallŷ, Ï þink wë sjød refårm ðë entïr ritten langwidj.

[S-Man]

All this weirdo talk is freaking me out!

And no, it's not Domicile, it's whoever bought the pet cemetary (sorry - "shelter") site.

[McC]

Originally Posted by S-Man

All this weirdo talk is freaking me out!

And no, it's not Domicile, it's whoever bought the pet cemetary (sorry - "shelter") site.

oh, that was Ashcroft, wasn't it?

[S-Man]

It sure was. I don't like the height they're proposing for right next to the park. I'm pro-intensification, hell, I live on that street, but this is the only development proposed for the street that needs to be halved in height. That park is always hopping, and needs some light in the winter.

Build 30 stories at Champagne and Csrling - what do I care - but next to the park you need to tone it down.

[ThaLoveDocta]

Originally Posted by S-Man

It sure was. I don't like the height they're proposing for right next to the park. I'm pro-intensification, hell, I live on that street, but this is the only development proposed for the street that needs to be halved in height. That park is always hopping, and needs some light in the winter.

Build 30 stories at Champagne and Csrling - what do I care - but next to the park you need to tone it down.

NIMB... Park?

I'm inclined to agree... that park's going to get mighty dark and depressing in January if it's completely shaded over.

[S-Man]

Especially when you consider that the neighbouring SoHo lot to the south will be 16 and 20 storeys. Stepping up in height from that to this to a small park would just look weird.
I'm sure the idea behind it is to have it argued down to a height still taller than what would be acceptable if it was proposed outright.

[Cre47]

City of Gatineau will eventually expriopriate a large number of decrepit homes near Montcalm Street as part of planned construction. Hopefully some density will be added there as well.

In the French forum, there are mentions about additionnal multi-story residential buildings along Maisonneuve, pretty close to an existant lot full of weeds across and past the St. Hubert restaurant

[S-Man]

Montacalm Street should be first on the restoration list. It is the edge of downtown and is a big route from high-density parts north (St. Joseph and such)

[urbandreamer]

SoBa Ottawa looks pretty hot, which is why it's this week's renderpornstar Sales to launch soon?

What do y'all think of http://www.chi-condos.com/ ? Hot or not?

[MountainView]

The Office development at Baseline and Clyde has finally started to begin. This is to the immediate west of the new walmart supercentre. I drive by this area quite often and today they were putting in the base for the crane and the pit is probably 10-15m below ground. It will have a covered parkade and I believe the sign out front of the development lists the building at 6 floors, although the pictures make it seem like 5. 19000sq/ft Class A office space, LEED certified is their goal. I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed, so in case it hasn't here are some pictures I found for the development.

[McC]

"SIGN"? HA, I love it!

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

...there is an unconfirmed but credible report that the properties are being sold to Minto for redevelopment....

I wonder if Minto is behind this dirty move?

New Edinburgh baker defies property owner, refuses to close after locks changed

Business survived huge fire last year

By Robert Sibley, Ottawa Citizen, April 7, 2012

Two days after his bakery nearly became one of a dozen businesses destroyed in a five-alarm fire last year on Beechwood Avenue in New Edinburgh, Chris Green hung a defiant sign in the shop window: "Open - Thanks for your business."

Late this week - shortly after 2: 30 a.m. Thursday, to be precise - bailiffs acting on orders of the property owner, New Edinburgh Centre, slapped locks on the store in an attempt to prevent Green from opening Bread and Roses Bakery ever again.

An hour later, Green received a phone call from a partner of New Edinburgh Centre, Helen Carter, informing him that he was locked out because he'd violated the terms of his lease.

Green, however, wasn't going to shut up shop that easily.

"As soon as my baker left at 2: 30, the bailiffs went in to change the lock on the doors," he says.

"I spoke to my lawyer. He said to go back in, that what they (New Edinburgh Centre) had done was wrong. So we broke back in (at about 6 a.m.) and started business again."

And why would Carter do that? Here is where it gets a bit complicated.

According to Green, Carter used a provision in his lease that stipulates his bakery operation be devoted to retail to try to shut him down. Green's been operating as a wholesale outfit ever since he took over the bakery four years ago.

He sells his goods to local coffee shops and other retail outlets.

He says he has done this with Carter's full knowledge. Moreover, to his knowledge, Green's predecessors also sold wholesale without any objection from New Edinburgh Centre.

The Citizen called New Edinburgh Centre on Friday in an attempt to reach Carter, but the office was closed for Good Friday.

However, it appears New Edinburgh Centre wants to sell its property on Beechwood Avenue and MacKay Street - basically, the area swept by fire - to Minto Developments. Bread and Roses Bakery and its next-door neighbour, Hamie's Diner, are the only two post-fire businesses still operating.

According to Green, the lease on Hamie's Diner expires early next year. Green's lease, though, doesn't expire until 2015, and then he has a renewal option for another five years. In other words, Green is the only thing standing in the way of New Edinburgh Centre selling its property for redevelopment.

"She (Carter) is trying to push everyone out, but I've become a problem because I have a long-term lease," says Green. "It's not because I haven't been paying my rent. It's always paid and update. She's looking for provisions to get rid of me, but she's always known since I took the business over in 2008 that I was wholesale. The only reason she's pinpointing 'wholesale' is because it's the clause (with which) she wants to try to evict me."

Green is particularly irked that, as it seems, Carter chose the Easter weekend to try to put him out of business.

"This is one of my busiest weekends of the year. I would have lost thousands of dollars if I wasn't able to open," he says, noting that Bread and Roses will be open Saturday and Monday.

Green says he expects to meet with Carter next week to discuss the situation.

"I don't want to stop redevelopment, but I have spent four years building up this business to the point where I'm really happy with it. I finally paid it off last year and I even started taking a salary. I'm not going to just up and leave."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Edinbur...#ixzz1rPg9F9mz

[Cre47]

Like, why is this news? Is it just to fuel the NIMBYS or Ken Gray. 10-unit will basically solve very very little the lineup for social housing. Hopefully there won't be whining about intensification there with this but Old St-Patrick is not really an area with vocal NIMBYISM which is a good thing... unless I'm wrong.

Affordable stacked townhouses proposed for Lowertown

By Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen April 10, 2012

OTTAWA — A 10-unit, $2.5-million social housing complex is planned for the site of an uninhabited duplex in Lowertown, and staff with the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation hope funding for the project comes through.

With approval from the housing agency’s board of directors, staff have submitted an application for funding that would help them to build the new stacked townhouses at 454-456 Old St. Patrick St., at Beausoleil Drive.

A duplex there now has “extensive” foundation problems and needs other maintenance, they say.

“The two units are currently not habitable, so we had to close it down, it was in such a state of disrepair,” said Jo-Anne Poirier, the chief executive for OCH. The duplex has been closed for a couple of years, she said.

“We simply didn’t have the funding to renovate it to the extent that it needed to, and it was deemed unsafe so we closed it down.”

The site was identified as an opportunity for redevelopment, said a staff report recently approved by the board, and an architect was hired last year to design a new building that could increase density on the property. The proposed complex would include four two-bedroom units, five three-bedroom units and one four-bedroom accessible unit.

“With the waiting list (for social housing) being what it is in the city, I think this would be helpful,” Poirier said.

OCH is applying for a grant of up to about $1.2 million from the city, the report says, and would pay for the remainder through mortgage debt and capital funding. The city’s housing services branch has issued a request-for-proposals for this year to develop up to 120 affordable rental units.

It’s part of an effort to knock down the number of households on the centralized waiting list, which stood at 9,977 in 2011, according to statistics presented by the Alliance to End Homelessness. That’s down from 10,502 in 2010.

Rideau-Vanier Councillor Mathieu Fleury, the councillor for the area and a member of the board of directors, pointed to the need for affordable housing in the city.

With Lowertown already having a large share of social services and social housing, a balance must be struck between introducing new units and taking advantage of opportunities to address people’s needs, Fleury said, adding that a smaller set of well-designed stacked units is less of an issue than a higher-density development.

Housing staff hope to get results of the grant application within a few weeks. If all goes as planned, the complex would be built by late this year or early next year, depending on when approval is received, Poirier said.

OCH has met with the head of the Lowertown Community Association and is to work with the association to ensure that the design of the proposed complex is consistent with the surrounding neighbourhood, she said.

A representative of the community association could not be reached for comment on Monday.

ncockburn@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/NecoCockburn
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Like, why is this news? Is it just to fuel the NIMBYS or Ken Gray. 10-unit will basically solve very very little the lineup for social housing. Hopefully there won't be whining about intensification there with this but Old St-Patrick is not really an area with vocal NIMBYISM which is a good thing... unless I'm wrong.

Not sure why you're assuming that there might be a problem of some sort. The report seems pretty straightforward and factual (ie. "news") but doesn't really lead to the conclusion that there will be a problem.

[S-Man]

You would think that, but a recent article in the EMC from about a month ago painted a much scarier picture, thanks to the local community association. Heritage being destroyed, and all that.

However, a falling down building that's beyond repair (that article cited the earthquake for pushing it past the point of no return) is 'heritage' only in that it's old.

[Cre47]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Not sure why you're assuming that there might be a problem of some sort. The report seems pretty straightforward and factual (ie. "news") but doesn't really lead to the conclusion that there will be a problem.

Even if many of the storiesare neutral, I have the impression the Citizen seems to be posting stories about almost every intensification projects even minor ones. Certainly a much better entry then Gray's junk for sure.

[rocketphish]

Decrepit Rideau Street buildings slated for demolition

By David Reevely, The Ottawa Citizen April 17, 2012

The developer Richcraft owns this property on Rideau Street, just east of Charlotte Street. It’s reached a deal with the city that would see it demolish the building and put in a temporary park. Eventually, Richcraft intends to build a condo on the site.

OTTAWA - The city is poised to give Richcraft permission to tear down a clutch of tumbledown buildings on Rideau Street now that the two sides have agreed on a park to replace them, says a report due to be presented to city council’s planning committee.

The property at Rideau and Charlotte streets, near Rideau’s east end in Sandy Hill, is slated to eventually get a medium-height condo building, but the existing water and sewer pipes aren’t ready for it. The city’s planning to replace them starting next year, but for at least two years the buildings on the site - mostly houses converted into storefront shops and restaurants - have been decaying. Neighbours complain that they’ve been used as flophouses and that they’re fire hazards; the roof of one has caved in.

The situation is ugly, the report acknowledges: "The subject buildings are all in a state of advanced disrepair, and some structural degradation is evident. The environment created by the vacant buildings and isolated rear yards has become conducive to vandalism and delinquent activities. The Ottawa Police have enquired with staff as to potential for demolition and indicated the demolition of the buildings could improve the detrimental environment."

Richcraft said last fall that it wanted to tear the buildings down but couldn’t make a deal with the city on what the land would be used for until the company is ready to build there. The city objected to a fenced-off vacant lot (like another property Richcraft owns on the next block) but the company didn’t want to be responsible for any sort of little park, or for nearby residents to get used to a neighbourhood gathering-spot that wouldn’t last.

Now, according to the city report, the city and the developer have made a deal: Richcraft can tear down the buildings if it replaces them with a simple park with grass, benches, a pathway and a few trees. The city will lease the land for $1 a year and maintain it, charging Richcraft $10,000 a year until the company’s condo project is ready to go.

On the other hand, the report says, the land could be exempt from property taxes if it’s used as a park, and the taxes were $25,000 last year, of which $14,000 went to the city.

If the planning committee and city council agree, the park should be done by Oct. 15, the report says.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

From: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Decrepi...#ixzz1sJm0e8KC

[McC]

why does Richcraft always evict (or not replace) the tenants when they buy these places? it was the same on Bay Street, and it's the same on Parkdale. You'd think the property tax and insurance bills over the DECADES it takes them to get around to building on their sites would make it worth their while to find occupants, but...

[citizen j]

Block-busting?