An artist’s rendering of the proposed condominium development on Hickory Street.
Residents of Little Italy can expect a new pedestrian bridge spanning the O-train tracks near Carling Avenue and a new grocery store as part of a condominium development project on Hickory Street, say city planners and developers.
The new footbridge in the southwest corner of Centretown is expected to connect Adeline Street on the east side of the tracks with Hickory Street on the west, linking the Preston Street community with the Civic Hospital area.
The grocery store is slated to occupy part of the 736 square metres of new commercial retail space being incorporated in the mixed-use design at 125 Hickory St.
“A grocery store would be terrific,” says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes. “We certainly need one on the other side of Bronson for downtown residents.”
The cost of the bridge is expected to be shared between the city and three developers in the area – Mastercraft Starwood Group, Domicile and Arnon Corporation.
Doug Bridgewater, a city planner, says it’s too early to estimate the final cost of the bridge.
“We’re hoping collectively to get everyone together to share in the costs of building a new pedestrian footbridge across the train tracks to join Little Italy with this part of the community,” says Roderick Lahey, the local architect involved in the project.
“I think everyone wants to have this done quickly,” he says. “But there are a lot of complexities involving the light-rail transit.”
The bridge and retail space are part of a larger development project being built by Mastercraft Starwood Group, a Toronto-based property development company.
It plans to build two condominium towers of 16 and 20 storeys, a revision from an earlier proposal of two towers of 20 and 24 storeys, according to the new site plan presented at committee.
Mastercraft Starwood plans to build 301 apartment units and 23 townhouses.
Kitchissippi Coun. Christine Leadman voted against the development in her ward because she says it ignores the community design plan and sets a bad precedent for future development.
“It’s not up to staff to reinterpret the community design plan or its intent. What we are doing though is creating an anomaly which will always be pointed to as a precedent for the rest of the corridor,” Leadman says.
Capital ward Coun. Clive Doucet, as well as Holmes, also voted against the revised plan.
Holmes says she opposes the height of the development because it doesn’t meet the current zoning bylaw of the area or respect the surrounding community.
“I think it’s very important that if we’re going to put this many people in this area we need to provide a pedestrian and bicycle connection to the LRT station."
Lori Mellor, executive director of the Preston Street BIA, says the pedestrian bridge will be critical in making it easy for new residents to get to the business area, but adds she is concerned about the impact new commercial retail space will have on local businesses.
“We’re the business area that should be serving these new intensification residents. So why, then, are we spreading commercial areas into residential zones? It just doesn’t make sense when a block away you’re well served by a commercial strip,” Mellor says.
She suggests a grocery store should be built either on Preston Street or in an area better served for high-volume traffic.
“We are working on building a farmers-market style facility that would better serve the grocery needs in the area between Somerset and Gladstone, where the federal government warehouse is,” Mellor says.
However, she says the plan could take five years to implement.
At the planning and environment committee meeting Eric Darwin, president of the Dalhousie Community Association, asked councillors to ensure the pedestrian bridge would be built before the first resident moves into the new condominium towers.
Darwin described the bridge as a simple and relatively cheap measure that would benefit local residents, merchants and cyclists.
However, the committee rejected Darwin’s request.
“It was disappointing the planning committee didn’t agree,” says Holmes. It can sometimes be difficult to get developers to make good on their legal commitments later on down the road, she explains.
“We will try to be as expeditious as possible, but to some degree it depends on the cost of the bridge,” Bridgewater says.
The city’s share for the cost of the bridge could determine when it will be built because it depends on when it will make it into the budget.