Metcalfe Realty is considering a plan to convert a 16-storey office tower at 85 Albert St. to a residential complex, the company’s president says. In a site plan application recently filed with the city, the Ottawa-based property management firm says it would retain the building’s “primary structural framework” while replacing the existing commercial suites with […]
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Metcalfe Realty is considering a plan to convert a 16-storey office tower at 85 Albert St. to a residential complex, the company’s president says.
In a site plan application recently filed with the city, the Ottawa-based property management firm says it would retain the building’s “primary structural framework” while replacing the existing commercial suites with 107 residential units in a mix of “studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and large two-bedroom units.”
Metcalfe Realty president Jen Arbuckle told OBJ Monday the company is looking at various ways of “repositioning” the 50-year-old office tower and another Metcalfe property at nearby 116 Albert St., which was built in 1960.
Turning 85 Albert St. into a multi-residential development is “a thought we are very seriously pursuing,” she said. “We’re still operating it as a full office building. We’re just exploring all of our options.”
Metcalfe Realty is one of several Ottawa landlords that are eyeing office-to-residential conversions as a means of breathing new life into aging buildings that have struggled to retain tenants in the wake of the pandemic.
Both 85 and 116 Albert St. have vacancy rates of around 50 per cent and have not been upgraded for nearly two decades. Metcalfe Realty is no longer signing any new tenants to the buildings and has stopped renewing existing leases as they expire, instead moving occupants to other buildings in its portfolio.
Arbuckle said the firm’s decision to explore a conversion at 85 Albert was spurred in part by recent city initiatives to help streamline the approval process for such projects and reduce costs for developers.
Last fall, for example, council approved a plan to waive cash-in-lieu of parkland fees for all conversion projects in Ottawa for 18 months while city staff conducted a “comprehensive review” of the policy.
Cash-in-lieu of parkland fees are paid by developers to the city as an alternative to dedicating a portion of land on the property for greenspace. For office buildings, the rate is two per cent of the land’s value, while rates for residential developments range between five and 10 per cent.
Before the recent fee freeze, developers working on office-to-residential conversions were required to pay 10 per cent cash-in-lieu of parkland fees in most parts of the city.
“There are some pretty good incentives (for conversions), and they're on timelines,” said Arbuckle, who was part of a recent city task force that recommended measures to encourage more housing construction in Ottawa.
