Along with Public Works’ major redevelopment plan for 90 Elgin St., there’s another federal office tower in the planning stages that’s expected to rise in Centretown.
“Public Works is considering using a competitive process to acquire space in a new building in the Ottawa downtown area,” Nathalie Bétoté Akwa, acting manager of media relations with the department, told Centretown News.
More details on the project are expected to be made public with further analysis and the completion of internal approval within the department.
Five potential development sites are being explored by the federal government as possible locations for the new building, the Ottawa Business Journal recently reported.
These sites include Brookfield’s site on Kent St., between Albert and Queen streets; Broccolini’s site at 199 Slater St.; Great West Life’s site between Laurier Avenue and Slater Street; Standard Life’s site at the corner of Bank and Slater streets; and Morguard’s site on Gloucester Street, west of Elgin Street.
Derek Howe, business development manager at Broccolini Construction, says he’s hopeful that the new federal project will take advantage of the green building practices offered by his company.
“We are already in the process of constructing another office building in Centretown for Export Development Canada,” Howe says.
This project was taken on in 2008, with construction beginning in early 2009, and Howe says that it is expected to be finished by 2011.
“Initiatives like this are great because they give us the opportunity to work with one of the most desired clients in Ottawa, the federal government.”
Fred Speer, senior vice-president for the national capital region of Brookfield Properties Corporation, says planned federal government investments are excellent news for the downtown area.
Speer, former president of the Ottawa chapter of Building Owners and Managers Association, says many of the buildings in Centretown are beginning to deteriorate and that the time is right for reinvestment.
“What the government is really looking to do is to revive the quality of their office accommodations in the downtown of Ottawa,” Speer says. “This is like buying a new car. The other car is all worn out, and they need to buy a new one.”
He hopes to see a request for information for the new building later this year or early next year.
“The federal government has been extremely good to Ottawa,” Speer says. “We’ve probably got the best real estate market in the world right now, and that’s partly due to the government.”
Public Works recently announced that the former Elgin Street home of the National Gallery of Canada — a seven-story building that has reached the end of its useful life — would be replaced by a new federal office tower. The department has invited potential developers to begin a qualification process for bidding on the project.