A revamped proposal to expand the Andaz hotel in the ByWard Market by adding a second tower is awaiting approval from the city.
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A revamped proposal to expand the Andaz hotel in the ByWard Market by adding a second tower is awaiting approval from the city.
The expansion project was originally proposed by Claridge Homes in 2018, two years after the 16-storey Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market opened on the site of the former Union of Canada building.
In 2018, Claridge proposed expanding the hotel by building a 19-storey structure with 136 suites and a 3,600-square-foot ballroom at 110 York St. In 2023, the city gave the green light to a revised proposal to build a 16-storey addition.
Since then, Claridge purchased the adjacent property at 116 York St. and has submitted another revision to boost the height to 17 storeys with 154 rooms at 110 and 116 York St., next to the existing Andaz Ottawa building on Cumberland Street.
According to planning documents, the hotel’s expansion “will support cultural assets in the ByWard Market and Downtown Ottawa by increasing services for tourists and visitors to the city, creating jobs and contributing to economic growth.”
The recently purchased lot at 116 York St. — previously occupied by a since-demolished two-storey heritage building — is vacant, while the other site at 110 York St. is a surface parking lot.
The lot is next to another new hotel, the 22-storey Moxy Ottawa Downtown, which is set to open early this year. To the west of the site are commercial buildings, including the Chuck’s Roadhouse, which opened last summer, Osmow’s Shawarma and Bytown Shoe Repair.
Included in the plan is a four-level underground parking garage underneath the new tower. The new garage will be shared by both Andaz towers, as well as by an abutting residential property also owned by Claridge Homes to the south. Construction is currently underway on that site, where a new 22-storey residential tower at 137 and 141 George St. is being built.
The first three storeys of the new hotel highrise would include amenities such as a breakfast area, fitness space, and pool and sauna, according to the design rationale document prepared by Fotenn Planning + Design.
In a bid to boost the hotel’s capacity to hold events, the new structure will include a ballroom. Overall, the application summary said the first three storeys will contain about 1,570 square metres (16,900 square feet) of assembly space.
When the expansion application was initially submitted in 2018, Claridge CFO Neil Malhotra told OBJ that the hotel’s first year or so in operation suggested that it needed more space to host gatherings of 200-plus people, as well as more rooms to accommodate guests attending events.
“Demand has been good,” he said at the time. “I think the property of the Andaz itself has sort of established itself as its own destination. But we felt there was a real strong demand to have larger events also take place at the hotel, which required more rooms but also more and different types of conference spaces than what we were offering.”
The site plan filed with the city in 2018 said the proposed building at the corner of York and Dalhousie streets would be connected to the existing 200-room hotel by a ground-level podium.
The proposed addition is designed by Montreal’s Neuf Architects, the same firm behind the original Andaz building. The planning application says the new structure “will blend seamlessly with the existing tower so that it appears as one building.”
