Vice-president Jordan Bianconi said branching out into property development marks the “logical next step” in Inside Edge’s evolution as a real estate firm.
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A prominent Ottawa commercial property management firm is looking at launching its first major development project – an apartment tower on a busy stretch of Carling Avenue that’s seeing a surge in multi-residential construction.
Inside Edge Properties has filed a plan to build a 28-storey highrise with 370 rental units at 1657 Carling Ave. and 386 Tillbury Ave. The one-acre parcel of land between Clyde and Churchill avenues is currently home to two buildings – a two-storey commercial complex that fronts on Carling Avenue and a house on Tillbury Avenue to the north.
Inside Edge bought the 24,770-square-foot commercial property – which features retailers such as a sushi restaurant, pizzeria and tanning salon on the ground floor and office space above – six years ago.
The firm recently purchased the home on Tillbury to “square off” the site and make it more suitable for future development, Jordan Bianconi, the firm’s vice-president of acquisitions and corporate development, told OBJ Wednesday.
“We acquired (the site) with the vision of Carling becoming far more than it is and has been,” Bianconi said. “There’s a lot of upside on that street and we’d love to be a part of it.”
Carling Avenue that’s become a hotbed of multi-residential construction in recent years as developers scramble to stake their claim along what is expected to become a growing transit hub.
The city’s 2013 transportation master plan identified the stretch of Carling between the former Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre site and the Dow’s Lake LRT station as a “future rail-based transit corridor.” The updated transportation master plan released earlier this year now recommends Carling become a “median transitway” serviced by buses.
Proposals are now in the works that could eventually see thousands of new residential units constructed within a few blocks of 1657 Carling.
Just across the street, for example, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust plans to build six mixed-use highrises ranging from 18 to 40 storeys on a five-and-a-half-acre site at the southeast corner of Carling Avenue and Clyde Avenue North next to a former Canadian Tire store that has been converted into an Altea fitness facility.
Council gave that project, which could include more than 1,700 residential apartments, the green light last year.
Next door to Inside Edge’s property at 1655 Carling, Quebec-based Clobracon Construction is building two towers of 16 and 18 storeys that will contain more than 400 rental units.
Meanwhile, Claridge Homes has filed plans to build six highrises containing up to 2,000 housing units just south of RioCan’s property at 891 Clyde Ave. between Carling Avenue and the Queensway. Farther west at 1707 Carling, the same developer is building a 22-storey apartment highrise aimed at retirees.
Now, Inside Edge appears poised to add to that growing wave of new development.
Its proposal calls for a mix of rental apartments ranging from studio units to two-bedroom suites, with about 4,000 square feet of retail space slated for the ground floor.
Like many developers looking to add density on transit corridors, the firm plans to build fewer parking spaces than current zoning rules require. The underground lot in the current proposal would include 154 spots for residents – below the minimum required total of 179.
Inside Edge is also asking for relief from current height limits, which cap buildings at 30 metres, or about 10 storeys.
Still, Bianconi said the company is in no rush to put shovels in the ground on what would be its first major construction project.
The commercial building will remain open for business for the foreseeable future, he explained, and is currently seeking tenants to fill three vacancies. Bianconi said Inside Edge is “just preparing things to be in a better position for the future” by getting a jump on the municipal approvals process now.
“We want to be ready to (build) if required and when the time is right,” he added. “The timeline is not set in stone at this point.”
Founded in 1998, Inside Edge now manages more than 800,000 square feet of office and industrial space in the National Capital Region.
The firm is just starting to dip its toes into the development side of the business. It’s set to start work on its first project, a 12-unit rental building in Westboro, in the coming months.
Bianconi said branching out into property development marks the “logical next step” in Inside Edge’s evolution as a real estate firm.
“We own multiple sites throughout the city, and the next phase of growth tends to lead toward development or repositioning existing properties for greater density – whether we develop it or dispose of it once everything is approved. It allows us different options.”
