In a recently filed site plan control application, Crest Realties says it wants to repurpose the 38,400-square-foot mixed-use building it owns on the southwest corner of Bank and Lisgar streets into an apartment complex containing 45 one-bedroom units and about 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
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A Montreal-based real estate firm says it plans to convert a six-storey office building in Centretown into a housing development.
In a recently filed site plan control application, Crest Realties says it wants to repurpose the 38,400-square-foot mixed-use building it owns on the southwest corner of Bank and Lisgar streets into an apartment complex containing 45 one-bedroom units and about 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
The Montreal-based firm says the development would include 40 spaces for bicycles on the ground floor but no parking for vehicles. The existing structure would remain intact with “no changes to the building envelope and minimal changes to the existing site conditions,” the application says, adding there will be “minimal modifications” to the exterior of the building, including alterations to the window treatments.
The plan also calls for almost 8,200 square feet of amenity space on the ground floor and in the basement. The application does not specify whether the apartments would be rental units or condos, and Crest Realties did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Constructed in 1964, the building sits on a 0.17-acre property that is zoned for traditional mainstreet uses, meaning no amendments are required for a conversion to residential use. The ground floor contains about 5,000 square feet of commercial space occupied by a comic book store, barbershop and gourmet gift basket shop, while the upper floors house offices.
The site is just a block north of another potential office-to-residential conversion. The owners of a four-storey building on the southeast corner of Bank and Cooper streets recently filed a proposal to convert the top three floors of the 29,000-square-foot structure, which consist mostly of vacant offices and a co-working space, into one- and two-bedroom apartment units.
The latest proposals add to a growing list of potential residential conversions in downtown Ottawa as demand for office space shrinks.
KTS Properties filed a plan earlier this year to turn an eight-storey, 55,000-square-foot office building at the corner of Bronson and Carling avenues into a 70-unit rental complex with ground-floor retail space.
KTS is also in the process of converting another former office tower at 130 Slater St. into a 204-unit apartment building.
Other companies with conversion projects in the pipeline include CLV Group, which is gutting the Narono Building at 360 Laurier Ave. W. and replacing its former offices with 139 rental apartment units, and District Realty, which is redeveloping an 11-storey office building at 200 Elgin St. into a multi-residential complex.
East of Bank Street, District Realty is currently redeveloping an 11-storey office building at 200 Elgin St. into a multi-residential complex.
Meanwhile, Ottawa city council recently approved a wide-ranging plan to boost housing construction that includes more incentives for developers to turn aging, underused office buildings into apartments.
Under the plan, fees developers now pay instead of dedicating land for parks when they convert offices to residential complexes will be permanently scrapped.
While conversions appear to be gaining momentum, some industry insiders caution they are not a magic bullet to reducing Ottawa’s growing glut of lower-quality, less desirable downtown commercial real estate.
Alan Doak, a principal at Proveras Commercial Realty who specializes in brokering office leases for tenants, told OBJ earlier this month the costs associated with gutting aging office towers and completely rebuilding their interiors are a major roadblock for many developers.
“There isn’t a lot of demand for one-bedroom apartments that are north of $2,000 a month, and that is generally what these conversions are designed for,” Doak said, adding he thinks the city is nearing the “saturation point” for such projects.
