Group Mach unveils design for 23-storey mixed-use highrise at 77 Metcalfe St.

Group Mach is planning to demolish the vacant 12-storey office tower at 77 Metcalfe St. and replace it with a 23-storey mixed-use highrise, planning documents say. In a recently filed site plan control application, the Montreal-based real estate firm says the new building at the southeast corner of Metcalfe and Albert streets will contain 241 […]

Group Mach is planning to demolish the vacant 12-storey office tower at 77 Metcalfe St. and replace it with a 23-storey mixed-use highrise, planning documents say. In a recently filed site plan control application, the Montreal-based real estate firm says the new building at the southeast corner of Metcalfe and Albert streets will contain 241 apartment units and about 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Although the application says the existing two-level underground parking garage will be retained, the site plan says the proposed new development will have no parking for residents and just 15 spots for visitors. Meanwhile, the plan calls for 243 parking spots for bicycles. The proposal is a slightly scaled-down version of the plan Group Mach initially submitted to the city’s urban design review panel in January that envisioned a 26-storey tower. The 140,000-square-foot building that currently occupies the 0.3-acre lot at 77 Metcalfe St. has been empty since its previous tenant, Nav Canada, moved out at the end of 2022.

Group Mach acquired the property from BentallGreenOak three years ago for $19.1 million. The Montreal-based firm told OBJ earlier this year it decided to take the 70-year-old building off the office market and transform the site into a multi-residential complex “based on recent market analyses and the growing demand for housing in downtown Ottawa,” adding it believes “this approach offers greater long-term value.” The company said at that time that it planned to start dismantling the structure before the end of the year. It will be Group Mach’s second demolition project in downtown Ottawa. The firm is in the midst of tearing down a 14-storey highrise at 110 O’Connor St. and expects the building to be completely dismantled by next March. Group Mach acquired the building at the corner of O’Connor and Slater streets, which previously served as an office for the Department of National Defence, from Cominar REIT for $40 million in 2021. It is being replaced with a residential highrise. The tear-downs come as landlords grapple with rising vacancies in aging downtown office towers. While recently renovated downtown properties such as Constitution Square, the World Exchange Plaza and the Sun Life Centre are luring tenants with perks such as remodelled common areas, gyms, restaurants and other amenities, owners of more antiquated buildings haven’t been as successful at filling vacancies in a post-COVID world. The vacancy rate for class-B downtown real estate rose to 14.7 per cent at the end of September, up a full percentage point from the previous quarter, Colliers said earlier this month. As a result, more and more owners of such properties are looking at ways to breathe new life into their investments. In some cases, that could mean converting existing office towers into housing. Several local developers, including CLV Group, District Realty and Katasa, have launched office-to-residential conversions over the past few years, and more projects are in the pipeline – including a proposal filed earlier this month to convert a mixed-use building on the corner of Bank and Lisgar streets into an apartment complex with 45 one-bedroom units and about 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Group Mach has taken a different approach, opting to start fresh with brand-new developments. Company president Vincent Chiara told OBJ in 2023 the firm considered a conversion at 110 O’Connor, but ultimately determined it didn’t make financial sense to try to salvage the current building’s skeleton and transform the interior into apartments.