By Chris Clarke
Claridge Homes said it expects to begin work on the LeBreton Flats housing project by next fall after the National Capital Commission announced at its annual meeting last week it had accepted the developer’s bid.
The Ottawa-based developer will fork over $8 million for 4.4 hectares of Crown land. The announcement of the sale is unsurprising, since Claridge Homes was the only firm to complete a proposal.
“We’re excited to be proceeding, it’s an important step forward for Ottawa in housing,” said Neil Malohtra, vice-president of Claridge Homes. “Overall, there’s been a fairly positive response from public.”
Malohtra says the firm has already received more than 100 responses from people wishing to live in the area since unveiling the project in October.
Although Claridge Homes expects to start work on the first 100 units by next fall, Malohtra says these will not include any affordable housing units. He doesn’t expect to begin work on affordable housing units, which make up 37 per cent of its proposed residential space, for another five years. Affordable housing will be the last phase of the project.
Claridge Homes’ proposed design of the multi-use community has elicited public criticism. The design has been called homogenous, unadventurous and boring at public consultations. Even NCC chair Marcel Beaudry said the design lacked “poetry” in the commission’s announcement but urged patience.
“I want to reassure the public that the project unveiled is a concept and not the final design,” said Beaudry.
Malohtra defended the proposal drawings from its detractors. He said the pressures of designing quickly for a competition left no time for the details that define and distinguish an architectural structure.
“Each building will take on a life of its own,” said Malohtra.
The NCC is brimming with optimism, however, despite the initial reluctance garnered from public consultations.
“We are on the brink of the creation of a new neighbourhood in the capital…revitalizing an essential part of the capital,” said Peter McCourt, NCC property development and planning director.
The area of redevelopment will include five blocks of residential buildings with 850 units. Affordable housing units make up 327 units – 60 per cent rentals and 40 per cent condominiums costing less than $180,000. The buildings will also have roof-top vegetation to improve cooling, air quality and water management.
The current proposal groups buildings around inner courtyards, surrounded by green space. McCourt expects the two-hectare riverfront park and the event square to be ready sometime in 2005, although the square will not be in use until 2006.
Anna Suzuki, who attended the NCC annual public meeting, regrets the board’s decision to turn over the lands of LeBreton Flats to private developers.
“It’s short-sighted to build houses. We could’ve built a magnificent structure near the river, it could’ve been a showcase for the country,” she said.