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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2009, 4:35 PM
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rocketphish rocketphish is offline
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Tommy & Lefebvre, Bank St. | 8.4 m | 2 fl | Completed

Tommy & Lefebvre intends to primarily construct on the existing footprint of the building. However, because the site was an amalgamation of various buildings with various characters, scale, massing, etc., the reconstruction represents an opportunity to rationalize the footprint and design. The proposed building will have the appearance of a two-storey building with an overall height of approximately 8.4 m. The building will be located tight to the Bank and McLeod Street sidewalks with ground floor retail providing a continuous commercial frontage. Office and additional retail space will be located on mezzanines. The main entrance is being proposed at the corner of Bank and McLeod Streets. A curved aluminum screen over the entrance may be used for signage and will assist in acknowledging the building entrance and corner presence.

The large sidewalk level windows on the Bank and McLeod Street elevations will be used to display merchandise and serve to animate the street. A projecting canopy at approximately 3.0 m above the sidewalk will serve to bring the scale of the building down to the pedestrian level. The regular rhythm of the second floor office windows is in response to the early commercial buildings in the District, where the second floor was often apartments.
The main building will be clad in a metric modular brick similar in colour to the original store. The ground floor retail windows will be framed in a black modular brick to highlight the retail aspect of the building. The canopy and curved screen at the entrance will be clear anodized aluminum. A simple cornice will complete the elevation.

The development application documents are posted here:

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7NDR8G



The old building:




The proposed new building rendering:



The proposed new building siteplan:


Last edited by rocketphish; Jun 8, 2009 at 11:10 PM. Reason: fixed the links
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  #2  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2009, 5:19 PM
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rocketphish rocketphish is offline
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It's a shame that this is such an uninteresting building proposal. Here is a unique opportunity to create a very impressive structure, either faux-heritage to fit in with the historic Bank St. motif, or maybe something bold and contemporary. Instead we get a bland box dressed-up with a curved screen. Oooh!

I guess their insurance company is paying for it, so they are doing it on the cheap.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2009, 5:45 PM
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I noticed last week that the site's already been cleaned up (or close to it).

Agreed, this is a ho-hum rebuild. Guess they want to get back to business asap.
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  #4  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2009, 6:12 PM
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I wonder why they are not going taller. They could even easily warehouse their stuff here in a larger building instead of way out on Lancaster Road.

One thing that pissed me off with their old building is that there was no secure/covered bicycle parking (especially for a store that sells bikes!) and it seems like they've overlooked that again.
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  #5  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2009, 9:45 PM
kwoldtimer kwoldtimer is online now
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I would have liked to see some residential above the store. Seems like a missed opportunity, but maybe the market couldn't justify it, especially since they are rebuilding so quickly.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jun 3, 2009, 1:04 AM
Proof Sheet Proof Sheet is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketphish View Post

I guess their insurance company is paying for it, so they are doing it on the cheap.
I think you may be correct there...the firm doing the architectural drawings is also doing the site servicing drawings...not always a recipe for bold architecture.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2009, 12:12 AM
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Is it strange that it I find it more unappealing than what's actually there now? I think it's kind of terrible.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2009, 2:51 AM
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I didn't think it was possible to build anything uglier than what was there before, but I guess I was wrong. What are they trying to hide with all the windows and door covered up? What a wasted opportunity.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2009, 6:56 AM
m0nkyman m0nkyman is offline
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My standard line in support of tall buildings is that I'll support attractive at any height, and oppose ugly no matter how short.

This is one story of ugly. I can't support it, and plan on saying so at the Planning and Development committee of the Centretown Citizens Community Association.

They can do better.
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  #10  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2009, 11:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harls View Post
I noticed last week that the site's already been cleaned up (or close to it).

Agreed, this is a ho-hum rebuild. Guess they want to get back to business asap.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, how do you know this one won't mysteriously burn down like the old store during the next economic recession.

Speaking of, what caused it to burn down anyways?
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  #11  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2009, 6:39 PM
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Ugly. It Should Not Be Permitted. End Of Story.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jun 6, 2009, 1:32 AM
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WOW,that just awful.
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  #13  
Old Posted Jun 6, 2009, 3:00 AM
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WTF is that? The curved screen is weird and the black cladding along the streets is awful - stick with the bricks. There's also a reduction in windows that I don't think does any good at all.

If they went to 3 storeys, could they do better?
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  #14  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2009, 12:34 AM
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Well said, Rathgrith.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2009, 5:27 PM
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For some odd reason that evangelical type gospel church on Wellington and Hamilton (I think) comes to mind first….that's not a good sign.

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  #16  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2009, 8:53 PM
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Hideous! WTF?

No height
No bicycle parking
No underground parking
No imagination
etc...etc...etc..
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  #17  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2009, 9:21 PM
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I submitted a comment to the city mentioning the bike parking oversight and they got back to me saying they will ask the owners to provide it.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2009, 7:10 AM
m0nkyman m0nkyman is offline
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The black is a black brick. The rendering I saw last night was an improvement over what is posted here.

They are aware that this is a missed opportunity to go higher. They are probably wishing their store burnt down in better economic times, but them's the breaks.

It isn't what I want, but it is better than an empty lot and crippling Tommy & Lefebvre's business. They want this back up and running by November.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2009, 3:51 PM
nccwatch nccwatch is offline
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I've seen better looking big box stores.

Dire.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2009, 4:09 AM
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