Category: infill

Claridge, condos, infill, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats

LeBreton Flats condo grows

Westsideaction

Claridge is busy building the second tower / second half of the first building at 200 Lett Street on LeBreton Flats. Now that the garage levels are in, the swiming pool cast, and the ground floor poured, the remaining floors will pour quickly, maybe one floor per week. The new building will be a seven storey podium of yellow brick, with a tower on the east side going to 14 floors, with an exterior of yellow brick and glass (same glass as first tower, but second tower will read as mostly brick). The architecture or style of this building is … Continue reading LeBreton Flats condo grows

infill, little Italy, Preston street

Preston Infill

Westsideaction

This infill on Preston is rapidly being enclosed for winter completion. The window pattern is pleasing. There are two storefronts on the ground floor and six apartments above. The top floor is stepped back from the lower floors, which reduces the building bulk. It doesn’t look like the flat roof on the second floor will be balconies/terraces, though, which seems a missed opportunity. Continue reading Preston Infill

condos, downtown, infill, intensificatioin

Slow Progress

Westsideaction

Minto built these stacked townhouses (a two or three-storey unit above a two storey unit, each with sidewalk-level private entrances) a few years ago. Earlier this summer, there was a fire in one of the units. The whole row of houses was evacuated, and remains empty to this day. Some units are boarded up at the rear. Others sit with six month’s accumulation of grime and dust on the windows and porches. The units are wood-frame construction. There is not a sprinkler system. In addition to townhouse-looking stacked units, a number of low-rise apartment buildings in the city are also … Continue reading Slow Progress

Dalhousie, infill

Infill on Bell & Christie Streets

Westsideaction

This infill project in Dalhousie is just about all complete. The sod is down, slender tree saplings planted, backyard fences completed. The building faces Christie and reads as semi-detached. The presence of side doors that are celebrated with wide steps, fancy door sets, and a little peaked roof suggest otherwise. In fact, the units can be used as a three storey unit with large ground floor rec room or the ground floor can be closed off leaving a two storey unit above with a balcony, and a small independent unit on the ground floor with its own door to the side … Continue reading Infill on Bell & Christie Streets

855 Carling, Bayview-Carling CDP, Carling Ave, condos, Dows Lake, infill, intensificatioin

Out with the old, in with the condos

Westsideaction

The printing establishment currently located at the corner of Hickory Street and Champagne Avenue is the only remaining industrial use in this section of the Bayview-Champagne corridor. It once was an industrial heartland of the city, with convenient rail access (the tracks were relocated into the cut in 1963, before that they ran at street level). The old Sunoco fuel depot site has been cleaned up and is currently zoned for a 40,000 sq ft building. The former Campbell Iron and Steel plant at the corner of Carling/Champagne (now a satellite parking lot for the Civic Hospital) is in process to become … Continue reading Out with the old, in with the condos

855 Carling, Bayview-Carling CDP, infill, intensificatioin

Champagne Ave condo site on the market

Westsideaction

The Acquerello condo was in pre-sales several years ago but did not sell enough units to go ahead with construction. It was located at  the corner of Hickory Street and Champagne Avenue, one block south of the Carling Avenue O-Train station. The proposed building was quite large and offered nice layouts with views of Dows Lake and the downtown plus easy access to rapid transit. The lot is now back on the market. Domicile has proved there is a market for condos at this location, with his first tower at “Merion Square” built, and another two condo towers nearing construction. … Continue reading Champagne Ave condo site on the market

infill

Infill on Elm Street

Westsideaction

I admire this porch rebuild on Elm Street. It began as a dilapidated wooden porch that was sagging off the house. The new room has new studs, floors, roof, exterior wrap, windows, new door and windows. It short, it complements the house and the streetscape very nicely without being precious. I especially appreciate the care the renovator took to get the porch, columns, and steps. The porch is shallow, perhaps due to setback limitations, not so much useful for sitting on as for storing the blue blox, black box, green bin, and regular garbage bin. So often in this neighborhood, … Continue reading Infill on Elm Street

infill

Another Infill on Cooper

Westsideaction

This Cooper Street infill is just a block down the street from the one in the previous post. The cribs are still in place, some in the foundation hole and some in the driveway. The exterior was likely to have been brick on this house, as the exterior cladding has been removed and the house wrapped in fabric for weather protection. Note that the new foundation has lots of windows, so it will likely be living space. There is also a large addition to the rear. The access to the addition will be along the side yard on the left … Continue reading Another Infill on Cooper

infill

Infill on Cooper street

Westsideaction

There are two houses on Cooper undergoing interesting infill treatments. This older house has been jacked up and put onto a new foundation. The two openings at the foundation facing the street were for the steel beams holding up the house. The process: the house is supported from underneath with cribs, the joists cut off around the old stone foundation, and new joists sistered onto the old ones, along with additional supporting beams. Then the house is lifted, new foundation poured, and the house lowered down again. In this case, the new foundation under the old house has few if … Continue reading Infill on Cooper street

Chinatown, infill, somerset street

Lotus Court green roof

Westsideaction

Lotus Court is a mixed use project by Phoenix DCR developers at the corner of Rochester and Somerset Streets. The upper levels consist of townhouse units and stacked townhouse/loft units that are accessed off a central courtyard 3/4 of a flight up off the street. Under the units facing Somerset there are storefront offices. Under  the units facing the back (Eccles Street) are another level of residential units. Somewhere under the whole thing is underground parking. Resales seem to be brisk. The building seems to function well for the location. However, the courtyard and thus the upper units – some … Continue reading Lotus Court green roof

infill, little Italy, Preston street

Foundations when ground is soft

Westsideaction

Preston Street is the former runoff route from Dow’s Great Swamp down to the Ottawa River at Nepean Bay, until Colonel By built the dam that QE Driveway runs along the top of. This means significant portions of the ground along Preston are peat or soft materials. At the site of a new three storey infill on Preston (six apts above 3 retail) crews bored supporting pipes deep into the ground. The pipes were cut off at the same level down in the future basement. A concrete “box” was poured in place on top of each post. Gravel was poured … Continue reading Foundations when ground is soft

Booth St, infill

Booth Street Infill

Westsideaction

This building is located on Booth Street just north of the Queensway. It has been underway for several years, with long pauses in construction. The exterior walls are made of foam blocks that are stacked up and then filled with poured concrete to be load bearing, insulated both sides. It appears to be three units: a three storey unit facing the side street w/ garage; a three storey unit facing Booth, w/garage; and a stair down to a half-basement unit that runs under both of the upper units. The exterior parging / stucco is almost complete. A bit of roof … Continue reading Booth Street Infill

infill, little Italy, Young street2 Comments

Young Street Infill Housing

Westsideaction

view from Champagne S. looking west Champagne S will extend a hundred feet more to the Qway right of way, presumably it will eliminate this parking lot rendering of houses seen from the southThe vacant property runs along the south side of the Queensway, starting near St Mary’s Church, opposite the City Living housing, and running down towards the OTrain railway cut. It has at varies times been proposed for townhouses, apartments, or Qway off ramps. At the foot of Young is a pedestrian bridge over the cut to the other segment of Young, where Young St Motors is located, … Continue reading Young Street Infill Housing

housing policy, infill, LeBreton Flats1 Comment

Naked Intersections, Naked Streets, Woonerf

Westsideaction

The net is an amazing place. Following links on the Greater Ottawa blogsite to stories on naked intersections, I end up a dozen sites away, I can’t remember how I got there, and sometimes only peripherally related to the original story that started the links. Other times the links are exciting reading, and I find myself wanting to subscribe to this or that RSS feed (astoundingly, so many sites do not make it easy to subscribe or follow them…). Naked streets, or naked intersections refers to the latest Dutch planning fad of removing all traffic signs, signals, and painted lines, … Continue reading Naked Intersections, Naked Streets, Woonerf

housing policy, infill, intensificatioin3 Comments

Is Smart Growth Smart?

Westsideaction

Most anyone reading this blog will be aware of “smart growth”, intensification, infill, the Portland nirvana example, the glorious Vancouver leadership, and other urban design trends. A number of posts back, I questioned whether the assumptions of high density redevelopment in the existing inner city areas made sense. Do people moving from suburbs to infills exhibit the behaviour of the inner city population or do they bring with them their suburban lifestyle and consumption patterns? It strikes me that there is an element of geographic determinism going on here: if the inner city population exhibits certain characteristics now, moving people … Continue reading Is Smart Growth Smart?