Higher hopes: Creative Dev raises proposed Montreal Road rental complex to 21 storeys

In a revised planning application recently filed with the city, Creative Dev Ventures says it wants to build a 21-storey residential highrise at 1815 Montreal Rd., a few hundred metres east of Blair Road and about a kilometre north of the Gloucester Centre.

An up-and-coming Ottawa development firm has more than doubled the height of a proposed multi-residential building in the city’s east end in response to growing demand for rental housing. In a revised planning application recently filed with the city, Creative Dev Ventures says it wants to build a 21-storey residential highrise at 1815 Montreal Rd., a few hundred metres east of Blair Road and about a kilometre north of the Gloucester Centre. The proposed development would include 191 rental apartments. While the majority of the units would be one-bedroom suites, the plan also calls for 68 two-bedroom apartments and 15 three-bedroom units. The new proposal is an updated version of a previous plan submitted to the city last year that envisioned a nine-storey building with 130 rental units.

In a design brief filed with the latest proposal, Creative Dev Ventures says its original plan “proved economically unfeasible.” The company says the new design “adopts a different strategy by reducing the horizontal massing of the structure and opting for vertical growth.” Jane Kirchmann, a management consultant who is working with Creative Dev Ventures on the project, said the revised proposal “is really more in alignment with the intensification (goals) of the city.”  The triangular-shaped one-acre property, which is currently occupied by a single-family home, is surrounded by a vacant lot to the west and low-rise residential buildings to north and east.  Kirchmann said the site “has the infrastructure to handle more housing, and it’s a great location for smart growth.” While no other nearby buildings come close to the proposed tower’s height, Kirchmann said there are “other projects that are coming online that will be similar” in scale to Creative Dev’s plan.  The Rothwell Heights-Beacon Hill North neighbourhood is “in transition,” Kirchmann said, adding the firm believes there is a captive market for more rental housing in the area.  She said potential tenants could include nearby homeowners who might be looking to downsize to a residence “that’s easier to manage” and want to stay in the neighbourhood but don’t have a lot of rental options. “As you go through the (development) process, you learn,” Kirchmann added. “By increasing the height in a thoughtful way, we can provide more homes in a well-serviced area. “Market research is great, but there’s also a little bit of crystal ball (gazing) to trying to predict who’s actually going to live in these buildings three to five years from now. There’s definitely market demand.”

Underground parking

The plan includes a three-level underground parking garage with 160 spaces. Proposed amenities include a rooftop terrace with views of the Ottawa River as well as a ground-floor co-working space. Kirchmann said the developer has spoken with Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney and representatives from the Rothwell Heights Property Owners Association about the proposal.  In its design brief, the builder says it has positioned the tower to “maximize the distance” from potential future development on vacant land west of the property.  In addition, the developer rejigged the proposal to move the tower closer to the property line while increasing the amount of green space and redesigning the highrise into a T-shaped configuration “to animate the building's frontage as much as possible.” Kirchmann said Creative Dev is also launching a web page that will provide more details on the project and allow residents to provide input on what they’d like to see in the proposal.  “It’s not just a rezoning exercise,” she said. “We intend to see this through to construction and deliver something that is shaped by community feedback and also by the market, which obviously is really in need of more housing.” The property is currently zoned for buildings of up to nine storeys. Creative Dev is also seeking to reduce the minimum setback requirements and build fewer parking spaces than current zoning rules allow.  Kirchmann said there are no firm timelines for when work on the project could begin. “We’re pretty early in the game. We really need to get further along to have certainty in terms of what the timing for that process is going to be. That being said, if we can get our approvals in line this year, then there’s no reason why we couldn’t be constructing this project some time next year.” It would be the biggest multi-residential project in Ottawa yet for Creative Dev. The company plans to build a 189-acre subdivision with up to 1,500 housing units in Pembroke, and it also has a pair of projects in its pipeline in Calabogie – a 93-acre housing development and a luxury resort called The Calabogie House that will be a short-term rental and events space.   Meanwhile, Creative Dev has also unveiled plans for another rental apartment project in the east end, a six-storey complex on Labrie Avenue near the Cyrville LRT station. Kirchmann conceded that despite the housing crisis, current conditions are less than ideal for many developers to launch major projects as a potential trade war looms and Canada’s economic outlook remains uncertain. “It’s tough out there,” she said. “There’s a lot of economic instability right now with our neighbours to the south. It’s a situation where you’ve got to keep monitoring and make adjustments and be ready to do some pivoting to make things real.” Still, she said the firm is working with a "great team of construction advisers" as it looks to get projects underway. “There are some partnerships brewing. We have to keep that as a little bit of a surprise, but we’re really excited about it.”