Construction is underway on Ottawa’s soon-to-be tallest building at the corner of Carling Avenue and Preston Street. Claridge Homes announced via Twitter on Jan. 4 that its Icon development is now under construction, with a picture of a crane erected at the building site.
The crane overshadows construction workers deep in the hole that will become the parking garage for the Icon, a 45-storey condo tower located in Little Italy. At a planned 148 metres tall, the Icon’s height will make it the tallest building in Ottawa when it is completed.
“It’s an icon for the city,” Bill Malhotra, founder and president of Claridge Homes, told the Ottawa Citizen in 2014.
The Icon will have 320 suites ranging in price from $239,000 for a 58-square-metre, one-bedroom unit to more than $1 million for the suites at the top of the Icon, which offer birds-eye views of the city. Claridge says about 90 suites have already been sold.
Claridge is not the only developer planning to build apartments near the O-Train line. Icon is one of multiple high-rise projects planned near the corner of Preston and Carling, notable others being developers Mastercraft Starwood’s Soho Italia and Richcraft’s The Sky towers, just west of the intersection.
But the increased density worries some Centretown residents.
Michael Powell, president of the Dalhousie Community Association, says during planning discussions for the Centretown Development Plan local residents accepted that there would be a lot of height in the Preston-Carling area in the southwest corner of Centretown.
“We’ve worked back and forth on the site-plan process to make sure that they integrate into the street as well as is possible,” says Powell in an email.
Some residents have expressed concerns over Ottawa’s surge in high-rise projects.
“They’re always visible,” says downtown resident Simon Callsen. Callsen is new to the area, but he has heard about some of the city’s plans.
“Wherever you are in the community, you can always see this one booming tower overtop of your community.”
This issue is not a new one. As Centretown News reported in 2014, residents feared for the fate of low-rise buildings to the north in Little Italy.
Then-city councillor Katherine Hobbs helped implement a “neighbourhood line” in Scott Street’s community plan, with a boundary drawn around a low-rise residential neighbourhood to forbid the construction of high-rise buildings in that area.
Callsen says he supports plans like these in other low-rise residential areas.
But Callsen also sees the upside to buildings like Claridge’s Icon. “I think there are definitely some benefits as it will allow more people to experience a wonderful community.”
For now, plans are for Little Italy to continue having a mix of high-rise and low-rise buildings. “We want to make sure that Little Italy remains a walkable, urban neighbourhood with a strong residential core,” says Powell.
“More neighbours in high rises is part of that, but we also need to preserve the low-rise side streets which are perpetually under threat from over development, and make sure that the mix of units being built includes those large enough for families and with affordable options.”
The Icon is expected to be completed in April 2019.