Astoria [150 Central Park Dr] | 25 + 31m | 8 + 10f | U/C

[rocketphish]

Ashcroft Homes is proposing to construct two senior residence buildings, one 10 storey building (30.5m) and one 8 storey building (25m), comprising of 340 rooming units, with a 1 storey connection.

This site is located at 150 Central Park; however, it has been confirmed with the City of Ottawa Municipal Addressing that the buildings have been previously assigned the addresses of 130 and 136 Central Park.

Architect: David Blakely Architect


Development application:
https://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans...appId=__BR8GRK


Location:




Siteplan:




Rendering:

[kevinbottawa]

Is this where their Next project was supposed to be?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

Is this where their Next project was supposed to be?

The address for Next seems to be 300 Central Park. Ashcroft still has a website for that one:

https://ashcrofthomes.ca/communities...-central-park/

[FutureWickedCity]

This is right around the corner from the 1356 Clyde proposal. Lots of density coming to that area. Feels right. I could see this area having a North York vibe

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

Is this where their Next project was supposed to be?

No, Next is/was directly adjacent to Merivale.

This site is an undeveloped lot further within the Central Park development.

[Marcus CLS]

I was at Clyde and Baseline yesterday. Judging by the location I am guessing this is where a crane was being put up.

[Harley613]

Do we have a thread for 'Astoria' by Alavida Lifestyles in Central Park?
https://www.alavidalifestyles.com/ou...tions-astoria/
I had zero idea this project existed until I saw it poking up over Central Park yesterday.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Do we have a thread for 'Astoria' by Alavida Lifestyles in Central Park?
https://www.alavidalifestyles.com/ou...tions-astoria/
I had zero idea this project existed until I saw it poking up over Central Park yesterday.

I believe it is this one: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=242636

I forgot about it until I noticed the crane from Baseline the other day.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Catenary

I believe it is this one: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=242636

I forgot about it until I noticed the crane from Baseline the other day.

Hey! Thanks Harley and Catenary. I was looking for this yesterday.

[J.OT13]

There was an article in the Citizen on this project earlier this month:

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/o...82282438995159

[GeoNerd]

Imagine getting 140 acres of prime inner-city greenfield developable land and absolutely squandering it by building Central Park. This looks like a subdivision in Barrhaven. Apparently Ashcroft does all their designs in-house. It shows. Ashcroft really needs to hire a capable design director. Imagine the amazing neighbourhood they could have built with this much land in the middle of the city.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by GeoNerd

Imagine getting 140 acres of prime inner-city greenfield developable land and absolutely squandering it by building Central Park. This looks like a subdivision in Barrhaven. Apparently Ashcroft does all their designs in-house. It shows. Ashcroft really needs to hire a capable design director. Imagine the amazing neighbourhood they could have built with this much land in the middle of the city.

Design like architecture? Or planning? Cause I'm pretty sure RLA has designed much of their buildings.

[GeoNerd]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Design like architecture? Or planning? Cause I'm pretty sure RLA has designed much of their buildings.

I’m referring to the entire subdivision design. This block included. They could have created a really special place on the edge of the experimental farm with an urban mix and layout. Built their own less dense version of the Distillery District / False Creek / Griffintown. Instead they built one of the most forgettable, ugly, cookie-cutter, subdivisions. Why you would build suburban, vinyl siding single family homes, and big slab retirement buildings, with surface parking, in this area is unfortunate. Really a huge wasted opportunity. I understand this subdivision started almost 25 years ago, but they are continuing on with the same mindset and design choices.

I’ve been told the owner does all the designing in-house despite having no background in urban design. He’s a math wiz tech guy, that is in land development to make money. It shows. He should hire someone to direct the designs of his buildings and subdivisions.

Central Park: ugly and forgettable
Envie Champlain: two of the ugliest buildings in the city
Envie Rideau: ridiculous
Eastboro: ugly and forgettable
Richmond canyon: hated on this forum

That’s not saying that developers that have design teams don’t also produce garbage, but Ashcroft stands out to me as exceptionally ugly and dated designs and layouts. Hopefully when they finally get around to building along Merivale (The Next) it has some redeeming qualities.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by GeoNerd

I’m referring to the entire subdivision design. This block included. They could have created a really special place on the edge of the experimental farm with an urban mix and layout. Built their own less dense version of the Distillery District / False Creek / Griffintown. Instead they built one of the most forgettable, ugly, cookie-cutter, subdivisions. Why you would build suburban, vinyl siding single family homes, and big slab retirement buildings, with surface parking, in this area is unfortunate. Really a huge wasted opportunity. I understand this subdivision started almost 25 years ago, but they are continuing on with the same mindset and design choices.

I’ve been told the owner does all the designing in-house despite having no background in urban design. He’s a math wiz tech guy, that is in land development to make money. It shows. He should hire someone to direct the designs of his buildings and subdivisions.

Central Park: ugly and forgettable
Envie Champlain: two of the ugliest buildings in the city
Envie Rideau: ridiculous
Eastboro: ugly and forgettable
Richmond canyon: hated on this forum

That’s not saying that developers that have design teams don’t also produce garbage, but Ashcroft stands out to me as exceptionally ugly and dated designs and layouts. Hopefully when they finally get around to building along Merivale (The Next) it has some redeeming qualities.

Agreed for the most part. Considering that Central Park was once part of the Central Experimental Farm, the Feds should have asked for far better. I'd love the history of how this came about.

It's important to also include Re Residence on Sparks, which is an ok building, but not the caliber one would expect from such a prime spot, again formerly a federal property.

Which brings me to their absolutely disgracefully treatment of heritage properties.

• They waited so long to dismantle the old theatre façade on Sparks for the Re that they had to trash it and replicate;
• While cashing in on their Westboro canyon, they've failed to invest in the old Soeurs de La Visitation Convent, which is falling apart. The promise was to restore the building as a community space, but so far, years into the project, they've only applied for partial demolition.
• The old Ottawa and Carleton District School Board on Gilmour at O'Connor is yet another example of their disastrous miss-treatment of heritage building.

Giving them some credit, I don't dislike Envie Champagne. The height and distinctive roof lines redeem it. Not a huge fan of the colour, but a. at least it's not charcoal and b. it gives some variety to the Dow's Lake skyline.

Envie Rideau as well, out of context (based on the design of a single tower) is somewhat interesting however, with two continuing rows of 280 foot wall to wall towers....

[Harley613]

Today

[J.OT13]

Latest rendering.



Sponsored article on the project:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...889785331.html

[McKellarDweller]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Today

I see 1465-1485 Caldwell (back left of photo) were reclad as CharcWhites, eh?

There has to be another way!

[ponyboycurtis]

Originally Posted by McKellarDweller

I see 1465-1485 Caldwell (back left of photo) were reclad as CharcWhites, eh?

There has to be another way!

Weird phenomenon. The 2 towers across the street from Elmvale shopping center were painted white on the bottom and grey on the top half. I don't get it. Is red/brown brick that offensive?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

Weird phenomenon. The 2 towers across the street from Elmvale shopping center were painted white on the bottom and grey on the top half. I don't get it. Is red/brown brick that offensive?

More expensive? I do wonder how dark colours affect electricity costs in summer.

[rocketphish]

From the Here's something you don't see everyday department:

Firefighters, paramedics rescue construction crane operator after medical emergency

Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen
Dec 09, 2022 • 2 hours ago • 1 minute read



Firefighters rescued a crane operator who had a medical emergency at a construction site on Central Park Drive off Merivale Road on Friday.

Rope rescue technicians went up the crane to assess the patient and raised a litter basket, Ottawa Fire Services said at about 11:30 a.m.

The Ottawa Paramedic Service said it responded to the construction site at 11:07 a.m. after the operator went into medical distress.

Tactical paramedics gained access to the patient before firefighters lowered the woman to awaiting paramedics.

The patient was “packaged” for a safe descent and brought to the ground, the Ottawa Fire Service said.

She was taken to hospital in stable condition, paramedics said.

Additional videos from the OFS

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ical-emergency