The controversial Soho Italia building proposal on Preston Street was temporarily scaled back several storeys by the developer this month before another revised plan pushed the height back to the original 35 floors, leaving area residents confused and upset.
Residents were first made aware of the project in January, when developer Mastercraft Starwood unveiled its plans for what is intended to be Ottawa’s tallest building.
However, the first application to the City of Ottawa was met with concerns from residents and ultimately turned down. A second proposal that was recently made public modified the building’s height, lowering the number of storeys to 28 and making the design somewhat more conventional.
Dalhousie Community Association president Eric Darwin says although the modifications were better, they weren’t enough. And now that the building proposal is back to the original one, he says area residents are being left in the dark.
“The building goes up, down, gets taller, gets smaller . . . We don’t know anymore,” says Darwin.
“What the developer is saying is that you can’t have our trendy, little copy of a Chicago building with what look like wavy verandas unless you give us our 35 storeys,” says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes. “I certainly don’t agree with that.”
She added: “I’m sure they are lobbying the other council members and giving them the line that they can’t have the good architecture without the height.”
Lori Mellor, executive director of the Preston Street BIA, says both versions of the building are too high and “separates the residents from the street.”
Beyond what she calls the poor aesthetics of above- ground parking, she says the building won’t even be providing enough parking spaces for residents or guests, which is sure to exacerbate parking problems in the area.
The building should be kept at the current zoning of 24 storeys, she says.
Building concerns are not new. Residents have been voicing their concerns for several months and Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi says he’s heard many residents’ concerns and spoken with Holmes about the controversial development.
“There’s a lot of concern . . . in terms of impact on the character of the neighbourhood,” Naqvi says. “The new zoning that was applied for takes away from the character of the neighbourhood. We need to restore that balance where the community should have a strong say.”
Still at issue is how the building fits into the community at ground level.
With a multi-level, above-ground garage, the Soho Italia just doesn’t mesh with the surrounding area, says Darwin.
“Personally, once a building is up about 10 or 12 storeys it doesn’t matter to me how high it goes,” Darwin says. “It’s much more important to focus on how you relate to it up close on a sidewalk level.”
Ultimately with the back-and-forth between the designs, Darwin says residents are missing key details. “(Starwood Group) is releasing bits and pieces of information, but not much,” he says.
He says the normal procedure to have a building proposal approved is to go through the planning department which then advises on whether or not the building is “good, bad, whatever.”
However, Starwood Group is going the “political route.”
“(They’re) trying to get political approval over the planning department,” he says, “canvassing and lobbying the politicians that are on the planning committee, and the people on the planning committee are indicating they’re OK with this 35-storey building height. So if they can get it approved, then of course they’re going to go that route,” Darwin says.
Jeff Polowin, a consultant with Mastercraft Starwood, says the decision to go back to 35 storeys was made after speaking with several councillors.
“As part of this process we’ve gone around and brought councilors on planning committee up to date on what we’re doing… All the ones we met with said we really like the 35-storey design better,” Polowin says. “It’s not just about height, it’s about design and there’s more of a design potential when you go higher.”
An application has been submitted but there are still hoops left to jump through, Polowin says. He says he hopes the decision will be made during the next planning committee meeting in December, “but you never know.”
Pending approval, he says area residents should give the design a second chance. “I think they have to give it a fair look.”
The central problem with the development is that “it rises from the sidewalk,” says Holmes.
“The whole point of Preston Street is that it should be a sunny, walking street. That’s why the city and businesses redesigned that street for wider sidewalks, outdoor patios…. to make it a pedestrian street,” she says.
If the 35-storey plan goes ahead “it will greatly increase the cost of land in this area, really inflate the land costs and other developers will be wanting to do the same kind of development,” Holmes says. “And then you’ll look down Preston and you’ll just see a tunnel.”