General Update/Rumour thread

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Not sure if we talked even once about this one (6-7 storeys) - on Carling at the 417 - was looking at Street View (as I was sick and tired of hearing/reading about people in favor of the nonsensical idea of putting the commuter from the suburbs light rail on Carling and looking at how it would be done at the 417 junction) and stomp to this project under construction last year

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...230.13,,0,-2.2

Dymon Self Storage. I think it got a brief mention a while back. And though it's not a condo building, I think it's got a more pleasing design than One3One

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Dymon Self Storage. I think it got a brief mention a while back. And though it's not a condo building, I think it's got a more pleasing design than One3One

Bit of a stretch there buddy!!!

As for LRT on Carling, I agree that it would be a total disaster, or at least when it comes to the current line for reasons mentioned by Cre47 as well as cutting off the south and the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport form Downtown and a ridiculous Carling station layout.

I would prefer an extension of a future Bank-Rideau-Montreal line (although exorbitantly expensive and maybe not necessary) or, the most doable option, a tram like supplementary line as planned.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We are talking about 27 floors vs. probably around 35 floors. It makes no difference at street level, so why allow a bunch of mediocre, lot line to lot line 27 storey buildings when we could get well designed 35 storey buildings with proper open space at the base or some sort of community usage. Once and a while, we need to reject the opinions of NIMBY militia in favor of logic.

I agree that a few extra storeys won't make much difference in most cases at those heights.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Capital Shaun

I agree that a few extra storeys won't make much difference in most cases at those heights.

Sort of like the city handing out a few thousand Presto cards for free; fairly large negative financial impact for the city, but not much of an impact for people saving 5$ on a new card.

35 floors; better design and community benefits.

27 floors; bad design, no community benefit and same, if not bigger (wider), negative impact as 35 storeys.

[brentgaulois]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Sort of like the city handing out a few thousand Presto cards for free; fairly large negative financial impact for the city, but not much of an impact for people saving 5$ on a new card.

35 floors; better design and community benefits.

27 floors; bad design, no community benefit and same, if not bigger (wider), negative impact as 35 storeys.

Geez... Is there a way to reverse this decision?

[citizen j]

Originally Posted by brentgaulois

Geez... Is there a way to reverse this decision?

Yes, it's called an OMB hearing.

[McC]

(Dupe post)

[brentgaulois]

Originally Posted by citizen j

Yes, it's called an OMB hearing.

What are the chances that someone will take this to the OMB and win? I hope we can get a group of people together who care to do this.

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Not sure if we talked even once about this one (6-7 storeys) - on Carling at the 417 - was looking at Street View (as I was sick and tired of hearing/reading about people in favor of the nonsensical idea of putting the commuter from the suburbs light rail on Carling and looking at how it would be done at the 417 junction) and stomp to this project under construction last year

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...230.13,,0,-2.2

Yeah that's the Dymon storage building. I suspect that it's a holding pattern for something else in 20 years or so. It's on the site of the former Capital Dodge - so I also suspect that 'Diamond' Jim Durrell has a piece of the action.

[Kitchissippi]

Storage is a huge growth industry that goes along with downsized condo living. A lot of people are using it for seasonal storage — who's got enough storage for golf clubs, christmas decor, camping gear, skis, etc in a condo?

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Storage is a huge growth industry that goes along with downsized condo living. A lot of people are using it for seasonal storage — who's got enough storage for golf clubs, christmas decor, camping gear, skis, etc in a condo?

Very true, strange that nobody is building and marketing storage and condos together. Even if they aren't co-located, you can see that there would be an advantage to having your self storage within walking distance. As a developer it might allow you to sell condo + storage and devote more of your prime real estate to living space with storage off site.

[harls]

Saw a demand for demolition for the building at 250 Parkdale (across from the Quick-E-Mart or whatever it's called) at Scott St. Probably another condo developer, for sure.

[McC]

It's a Richcraft property; but for now, it's just for their sales centre for 159 Parkdale.

[kevinbottawa]

Senate to take over Government Conference Centre till 2028

By David Reevely, OTTAWA CITIZEN May 16, 2013 1:00 PM

OTTAWA — The Senate expects to move in to the Government Conference Centre by the Rideau Canal in 2018 and stay there for 10 years while the Red Chamber’s part of Centre Block is renovated, say documents posted to the federal government’s online bulletin board for contractors.

Ottawans who want the former train station turned into a public space can forget it till at least 2028, and probably longer.

The Senate’s administrators are seeking a security firm to conduct a “threat assessment” of the century-old building and recommend what needs to be done it keep it safe for the upper house, whose facilities are to be fixed up as part of a billion-dollar overhaul of Parliament Hill. The temporary tenants include the Senate chamber itself, plus offices, meeting rooms and facilities for security and food services.

“In the longer term, it can be assumed that the building would revert to its use as a government conference facility, such that compatibility with this use and or reversibility of proposed interventions is an important criterion to consider in option development and selection,” the documents say.

The conference centre is one of the dead zones along Wellington Street Mayor Jim Watson points out when he talks about how the federal government has turned the district near Parliament into a dead zone — along with the empty former National Capital Commission information centre, the former U.S. embassy, and federal office buildings that have workers inside but don’t do anything for the streetscape. The federal government took the former train station over in the 1970s and uses it for big gatherings of public servants and occasional semi-public events like news conferences and open NCC board meetings.

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien wanted to turn it into a museum of Canadian political history but his successor Paul Martin kiboshed the idea. More recently, the city proposed at least linking the conference centre directly to the planned light-rail lane that’ll run practically underneath the building; the federal government said no.

At last report, in December, the Senate was due to move into the East Block on Parliament Hill in about 2017 as part of an emptying of Centre Block, where it and the House of Commons usually meet. With the middle building cleared out, a major renovation can take place. The Parliament Buildings are in terrible shape and experts who’ve worked on them say Centre Block could practically start falling apart in 2019 without the planned repairs.

Public Works is in charge of the massive project — work on buildings excluding Centre Block is expected to cost $1.6 billion, with estimates for repairs to the crown jewel yet to come. The department didn’t immediately respond to the Citizen’s inquiry about what changed in the plans for the Senate and why. This story will be updated with any answer.

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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ot...750/story.html